Toilet training - additional needs

[Derbyshirelady]

My DS 3.7 has been assessed at 18mths for self care and behind in all other areas to varying degrees. Potential ASD.

I am going to try him toilet training next week and see how it goes. If he sits on a loo he does a wee pretty much every time but when he's in nappies he doesn't appear to know he needs to go for a wee or poo or that he has done one.

His communication has improved greatly in last few months and he will respond to wee/poo chat but still doesn't tell us if he's been.

So I have bought many pairs of pants, we're going to stay in and go to the loo every 30 mins and see how it goes. Been recommended to buy incontinence pads for the sofa. Any other tips for toilet training? Likely to skip the potty - we do have one but he is a bolter. Reward stickers are unlikely to have much impact but will try them. Got a seat for the loo with cars on that he loves. Wee wee car!

[Derbyshirelady]

Bump?

[openupmyeagereyes]

We used the Oh crap potty training method on ds with ASD. He was 3.7 at the time. In the intro she outlines what she believes the criteria are to determine whether they are ready and it’s not the same (as I recall) as the current list to look out for. For us, each stage took longer than her top estimates but we got there.

Obviously there is no guarantee it will work for your child, or work at this point in his life, but I highly recommend it. Good luck.

[123bananas]

I have found with my dad who is 5 and has ASD that a lot of the weeing in the pull up is habitual. We had to go cold turkey with no pants in the day and just put him on regularly (30 mins) increasing the time between as he got better at it. Then we added pants. Now he take he wears pants and takes himself.

The only thing we haven't cracked is pooing. He will sometimes go on the toilet if he is without a pull up without prompting, but often he holds it until the pull up goes on at bedtime then goes. We are hoping that now he seems to be dry most times when he wakes up we can go without at night too and work on that. For pooing we call it sitting and read a book with him or give him a book to read himself, but he is a private pooer so we often find out when he shouts to tell us he has done one!

[123bananas]

Not my dad, DS. AutoCorrect fail 😆

[Derbyshirelady]

Thanks both! Bananas was going to wish you luck toilet training your Dad.
If he's not ready we will leave it but thinking the Easter hols from pre school is a good time to give it a whirl.

[StormBringers]

I waited until my Dd showed awareness and could say it gesture the need to go (though I switched to cloth to help). When she did potty training wasn’t too bad (she was 4.4)

[Derbyshirelady]

Thanks so much for oh crap recommendation. Although it's made me realise I don't have enough snacks or wine in my house to start this process.

Tomorrow we are go!

[openupmyeagereyes]

I hope it’s useful OP, good luck!
Remember, each stage may take much longer but hopefully you’ll get there. It took two months for my ds to ask to poo in the potty.