How long did it take to toilet train your ASD child?

[Marne]

Hi, i posted on the potty training board but it may be better on here. I'm starting to potty train dd2 (today) she's 3 next month and has started pulling her nappy off. Dd2 is non-verbal but can comunicate ussing PECS, i am trying not to use PECS as much at home because she has started to try and say a few words (mum, dad, drink) so i don't want her to rely on the PECS.

Anyway, i have managed to get her to sit on the potty infront of c-beebies, she has been sat there for 15 minutes and has'nt done anything.

I'm not sure if she understands why she is sat on the potty but i think once she has done a wee and gets lots of praise/hugs something may click.

Am i doing this rite?

How easy/hard is it to potty train a ASD/non-verbal child?

[sickofsocalledexperts]

It took me about 4 months, lots of trial and error and I used chocs as a reward (he was ASD and non-verbal, and aged 2 also). Good luck!

[Marne]

Thanks, i think i will have to use food as a reward (she loves food) .

[Peachy]

ds1- no interest until 3.5, trained overnight

ds3- has trained several times,but loses it when he has a regression: have got him at 5.5now to potty reliableat home but wont touch toilet

[TotalChaos]

NB DS was severely language delayed, not ASD - but I waited till he was ready, at 3.5, as sitting him on the potty didn't really get us anywhere, so he went straight to using the toilet and copying what I did on the toilet.

In terms of the language - I didn't find the language problem that awkward - in the house DS would just take himself off to the loo when he needed it. For outside the house, I would ask him if he needed a wee etc, and he could indicate yes or no to that, but couldn't reliably say to me he needed the toilet iyswim, so I would ask regularly. So I would familiarise your DD with the PECs around toileting!

[cyberseraphim]

Could you fill her up with juice/other liquid before sitting her on the potty?

[Marne]

Thanks,

She drank almost a pint of water whist sat on the potty but still ding nothing, now she has put the lid on the potty and put it away .

She seems to pick things up quickly so i thought once she knows what the potty is for she should progress quickly. I just need to get her to do something in it first.

She drinks and wee's a lot so i would have thought half an hour on the potty should produce something, may be she's cleverer that i thought and she's holding on to it until i put a nappy on her.

[kettlechip]

I left ds1 until he turned 3, and was starting to tell me he had a dirty nappy (in a very basic way) then got it done within a couple of weeks. He has a probable language disorder/poss HFA.

I left him nappy free for a couple of hours per day, watched him like a hawk and rushed him to the toilet at the first signs of him needing to go. Without going into tmi, I think it's possibly easier to spot when boys need to go though! I then bribed him to stay on the toilet until he'd produced something, by reading to him or even giving him a bowl of snacks (nice and hygienic!)

Within a few days he got bored of this and just started taking himself off to the potty when he needed to after flatly refusing to sit on it before. We had to start off with him in baggy pants though, as tighter ones must have felt too nappy like to him, and he just wet them. A month later he was totally dry by day, and often at night also. We're now 6 months on and I can count the number of accidents he's had on one hand. Was pleasantly surprised at how well he got it as anticipated a total nightmare.

Good luck!

[silverfrog]

I started with dd1 just before Christmas.

she was 4.4, but the reason for the delay was for 2 reasons:

1. her nursery insisted on tryig to train her when she was 2, and clearly hadn't a clue what was goign on, and all she learned was to hold on forever (and get very upset)

1. she barely drinks at all, and so we needed to work on her input before expecting and output

Within a week she had got the idea, and is now dry in the daytime. We had accidents for maybe 2 weeks where she was holding on too long and then couldn't make it to the toilet.She still holds longer than she should, but most days we have a success.

I haven't tackled poos yet - she goes once a dya in her nappy when she wakes.

hth

[Peachy]

Was it you that I offered the ASD potty training book to Marne?If not its still available for free loan LOL (the one JJ links to on her website)