Toilet Training child with ASD

[Iatemyskinnyperson]

I'm trying to brace myself, need to start this soon. DS1 is 4, mostly non-verbal. I do think he understands basic commands but I'm not too certain how to communicate such a complex message. We use PECS but are at pretty early stages- choosing food items, etc.

I was expecting his pre-school to initiate, but his class-mates are in their first year, I have a feeling his teacher CBA.

Can anyone recommend useful resources? Thx

pecs, is what we used. but its slow process, we have been trying for near on 8 months now, and its finally kicking in.
Its easier if you have time to just stay in the house for a good week, have potty about, take off all clothes, put on pants and pop him on potty/toilet every now and then, loads of praise, even just sitting on.

I went for bare bottom, warm clothes on top for a week at home. DS2's communication wasn't any worse than his NT brother at 2 1/2 (ie no speech!) so it didn't seem that different. If completely disasterous, leave it for a few months, no point if they aren't ready and sensory problems can make it harder for them. Good luck, however you try it.

I am going to try toilet training my ds (3.8 ASD non verbal) this half term. We are also using PECS in the early stages - not sure if we will succeed but are def going to give it a try. Am going down the no pants route and plan to live in the toilet for the next week. The NAS website has some useful sites where you can print some PECS. Fingers crossed !x

Thanks v much everyone. Think I'll stock up on disinfectant, pants and pecs pictures, make some schedules and just go for it. Dreading it though!

Just want to say , don't get too disheartened if it's not the right time. He'll get there. My ASD daughter was not toilet trained until aged nearly six. However, once she got it, she got it completely. Very few accidents afterwards. The thing that helped me was her changing school - at the new one they took her to the loo every hour, so it became part of her routine, and was easier to do the same at home. We had tried before with no success. She now either goes by herself, or says 'toilet' when she needs to go. The most reassuring advice I got was from a special needs health visitor, who told me that there are very few autistic people who are incontinent beyond childhood. That gave me hope when she was still in nappies at age 5! Good luck.:)

Toilet Training is something I've been wondering about. My DD is still just 2.5, but I've got the impression from threads I've seen on here previously that if she has ASD she is likely to be in nappies for a few years yet. Have I understood that right or not? She seems to be high functioning, and is now finally verbal (though limited communication; she understand much more now and speaks a little). Could I ask if it's always likely to be several years delayed with ASD? Does it depend on the 'functioning' level? (though I'm nervous of asking this in case I unwittingly offend). Or is it to do with how verbal you are? Grateful for any experience.

Ds2 was dry at 2.5 and was non-verbal til 4. He still has poo accidents at 12, though. I'd also recommend trying it when you think they may be ready, but really not worrying if they are not. Just stop and try again 6 months later. Really counterproductive to make it an issue. (Speaks from bitter experience, DS2 wasn't DX til 3.6 and I was desperate to get him into a playgroup to help his social skills, not realising he was autistic and pushed it before he was ready.)

We started toilet training today, ds is 4.5 ASD and verbal dyspraxia. I was dreading it but the first day went really well and he actually did a wee on the toilet for the very first time ever
We went "cold turkey" with the nappies, told him we had none left, fortunately I thought ahead and hid them, because he did search for a long while this morning. Also it took a blatant bribe of chocolate first thing, to get him to wear just underpants, he has been wearing the underpants over his pull up for a few weeks.
He still needs a nappy at night so I bought a different brand, which has disney cars on them, and we made a big thing of them being special night time nappies.
Like I said, first day went really well, but I'm a bit worried that he didn't poo most unlike him
Will see what happens tomorrow.

We initially used pull ups but still took him to the toilet and encouraged him to wee and poo, both at home and when we were out and about. The weeing in the toilet gradually got to the point where we put him in pants, as he was having less accidents - perhaps 1 or 2 per day. Now it's pretty good during the day (he's 5), although we still have to constantly remind him to use the toilet and insist he goes when he is obviously dancing about trying to avoid using it. Pooing took longer, and we had to bribe him . He LOVES putting coins in his money box, so every time he pooped in the toilet instead of his pullup (he would wait until he got the pull up on at night), we gave him a couple coins for his money box. After awhile, he stopped asking for the coins for his money box, and still kept pooping in the toilet. All done.

Nighttime training is another monster entirely. DS2 is nowhere near ready to be dry at night. Not even sure what to do about it at this point. I contacted the continence nurse by email, but no response at all. I will have to ring them this week.

I second Dazeykat in that very few children with autism remain in nappies:)
My son is verbal (wasn't til 4+) and I actually found him easier than my NT children as once he got the idea it stuck quickly and he wouldn't have a nappy on! We also did a lock down for a week..bare bottom and a potty at every turn:)

I work with older children who have severe autism and severe learning difficulties and have done for years..and only one is incontinent (a teen) and he has multiple genetic diagnoses ..the out look for most children is dry:)

Try a book called 'Liam Goes Poo on the Toilet'. It is written for children with ASD but using stick man style images. My DS was a nightmare to toilet train, he was dry by 4 but pooed his pants until he was over 5. The book really helped. Other than that it is just a matter of persisting. I put him on the toilet every night before his bath and eventually he did poo on it and then gradually he began to use the toilet at other times as he needs it.

There is also an excellent book for parents called "Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism or other Developmental Issues" by Maria Wheeler.

My DS is still not night toilet trained. He is completely wet several times a night and would lie in bed soaked if we didn't check him. So, we gave up on taking his nappy off and put pull ups on. He still uses poos as a control thing by pooing in his nappy in the early hours as a way of waking us up. It is partly attention seeking as he always wants me to change him and gets very cross if his step dad does it. One strategy that works a bit is that I don't change him (his stepdad does) as that way he isn't getting the attention he wants of me changing him.

Hope that helps.

Grey my dd is same age as yours but as yet undiagnosed. Her understanding is above average but speech limited. I've found that if I take her nappy off she will hold onto her wee or poo (sometimes for over 3 hours!) until I put a new nappy on! So she can obviously hold it but refuses to do anything on potty or toilet.
I'm leaving it a while as I don't want her unduly stressed

Thanks everyone for this info, and especially for the hope! I'll get that book, I need to get a plan together, that might have some good info.

A little aside, we had a dr apt today as he has a bad cold. Just before we left, I showed him the docs picture and told him where we were going. 'Doctor, no shouting' says he! I was v pleased, he's really starting to communicate more and more. He did well at the docs, apart from constantly blowing raspberries! at least he didn't shout!

I am interested in this too. DD is 4 and potty training doesn't seem like it will be happening soon. I'm not sure where she is on the spectrum but she is definitely not high functioning. She will sit on the toilet especially at preschool where she can see herself in the mirror (one of her obsessions) but doesn't seem to get that you need to wee or poo on there. She does wipe afterwards though. She has been suffering with chronic constipation for the last 3 months which has obviously complicated matters somewhat. I'm nt sure whether to push on despite the constipation in case it becomes a LNG term thing or to just wait it out until that is all sorted.

Not LNG should say long term. Also she can say wee or poo or nappy although sometimes she will repeat it if I say it. She has started to bring the a nappy and wipes over to me after a constipation episode though so I guess that is something though right?

DS did deliberate holding until we put the nappy back on
so we did intensive TT with ABA for 2 weeks
Child must be happy to sit on loo and read books etc for a while and also happy to drink a lot
Then withhold favourite items - DS not get access to ipad for week before
Then we sat him on the loo, gave him loads of his favourite drinks and just kept him there singing and reading etc until he went - told him: first wee then ipad
He got it within half hour - then he got to get off the loo & play for a bit loads of praise - then back on loo more drinks etc
It is intensive but as he was drinking so much was going every 20 mins
We had lots of fab ABA support
If he had an accident we got him to help clean it (well just vaguely dab a tissue near it) and prompt him through putting the tissue in the loo
The idea was lots of opportunities in short space of time
Then gradually he got to move away from the toilet eg we spent afternoon playing outside the toilet door, then gradually moving further away
when we put him in pants / clothes he struggled with that so we had to go back to playing in the bathroom until he got that he had to take them off
By end of week he was mostly taking himself from anywhere in house by himself and few accidents
By week 2 was pretty much dry day and night and out of the house.
Would second that once he got it, it stuck - on holiday we were stuck a long way from a toilet and he was desperate and refused to go anywhere other than a toilet! Just held it in until we found one (very stressful - even got his brother to wee behind a tree to demonstrate but he refused to do that).
So now he is almost overly toilet trained!
Do be warned lots of children in SS are not independent in using toilet - often the adults around them are trained to take them / prompt them. DS is completely independent, no prompts. Sometimes I think this gives a misleading impression how independent those children are.
There is a difference between taking yourself and being told to go at a set time.
Sometimes community nurses can provide help and advice