possible austism and bowel incontience

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Can anyone give me any advice or even a ear to moan on.
Ds2 is 8 and is bowel incontient and has been for a quite a few years. He sometimes does it on the toilet but can have up to about 5 accidents a day. They have put him on movicol in the past which he was on for a very long time but just made him worse. The poo clinic [sorry don't know what else to call it] want to put him on some other laxatives now. I am not happy to try him on different medications especially when I don't believe he is constipated. He does not have overflow and I don't think he has missed a day in his whole life.
Since he was little I have known he had some sn but was always told don't worry he is just immature for his age . However he has been being assessed recently and although he has not been dx yet they have said they pretty certain he is on the scale and he has sensory issues. They have said this could explain the pooing, which would make sense as he says he can't even feel he is doing or has done an accident. Tourettes is also being looked into as he has tics. From my own research I have found that bowel tics could also explain the accidents.
The poo clinic have always known he was being assessed and I told them what I found out about bowel tics. I spoke to them the other day on the phone and she was trying to persuade me to try the laxatives again. I said that jigsaw had said the sensory issues could explain the accidents and she agreed and said alot of children on her books have sensory issues so there is a link. But she still wants me to try laxatives.
Anyone else going through or been through similar things or anyone found anything else that has helped.

Also anyone have any practical advice when we are out and about we often refused to use toilets in shops etc, sometimes he gets a few few minutes warning but thats it. So need to get him to a toilet quickly. Also depending where we are I have started using disabled toilets as some cubicles are just are too small to clear him up in. But a couple of times people have commented. Is there a card or something to say he needs to use one and where would I get that from?
Thanks if you have read all these.

Have problems with all 3 of mine. We've been through very similar regimes from the gastroenterologist - with a 'give it 6 months and see if it has any effect'.
One of the best things I tried was reducing the amount of gluten. 2 of mine are now CFGF - at gastro's request, but I don't know whether he would have suggested it if I hadn't of tried it first with 1 of them and documented the results.
With my youngest, when he did a 3 week gluten challenge, it was so marked an improvement that the school asked me not to put him back on it! . It reduced the frequency and improved the bulk so that there was a greater likelihood of sensing it was about to arrive. He does less urgent ones as well - much better control.
From what i understand, GFCF is similar in nature to the GAPS diet - which several on this forum have tried on their DCs - on the spectrum - with good results.

Thankyou, we tried wheat free which seemed to work he was accident free for about 9 months.Then hospital said to put him back on it to see whats happens. So we did and the accidents came back so we took him back off wheat but it made no difference at all the 2nd time. We left it a while then tried again and again no difference. But not tried all gluten and milk. Might be worth giving it a try.

Hi my son is similar to the DCs mentioned above. He's 4.7 and is currently on a GFCF diet with very good results. His runny poos have stopped since September since I've put him on the diet and I have found nice foods on line too. Moo free does casein, gluten and soya free chocolates. School reported that his stools are much firmer and he hasn't needed to have showers in school for a while now, with the exception of one occasion when he saw the consultant and he asked me to put gluten back on his diet for a celiac test. We gave him some bread the same evening and he had 4 runny poos the following day and had to have a shower and change clothes in school because it had run up his back (gravity issues there too :/).

He's also Soya free. I've heard soya can be as hard to digest as gluten. My ds is doing so well I don't want to look back. No medication needed at all. Good luck!

one more observation, when our ds is on gluten, casein his stools smell foul and we know from a distance that he's soiled himself. Just found a dirty nappy of his in the kitchen to be thrown out and hardly noticed it was there. He also stopped passing wind so often. He couldn't stop laughing when that happened, it was non stop sometimes. I felt very helpless with the situation and was so upset seeing him laughing like that. It was like his stomach was in disarray and he didn't know how to deal with it. All gone now.

Not much advice about lack of toilets - except getting a radar key for disabled ones and begging/pleading with shop owners. Perhaps showing them the radar key - and saying that you can't find a toilet might tug on heart strings?
In fairness though, I've never been refused the use of a toilet. I do target the most sympathetic looking member of staff to ask though

Do you kno how you go about getting a radar key?

www.radar-shop.org.uk/ would be a good start. There is also a phone app which helps you locate the nearest radar toilet! I don't have that kind of phone -- but worth looking into if you do.
I think you also build up a knowledge of where all the loos are on your usual trips - its just the different trips that can catch us out!

radar keys are not hard to get, you can buy them online from several sites with no hassle