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SN children

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Original poster

Potty training & autism

12 replies

SPACLINE · 17/12/2003 12:54

My 3yr old ds(autistic with no speech & not sure how much understanding of the world)has been given a potty chair by his OT but I have no idea how to get him to understand what its for.He will sit on it for a short while,we've just put it near the sofa so he gets used to it being here,but then wanders off & just pees where ever hes stood.We've tried picking him up mid wee & running over to it saying "wee wee in potty" & even had his brother use it while he watched but hes just none the wiser to it.Hes quite "in his own little world" most of the time so its not easy teaching him things.Hes fed up of his nappies now though cos hes constantly pulling at it & moaning & plays happilly when its removed.Has anyone else been through this & succeeded???

OP posts:

coppertop · 17/12/2003 13:26

We're in a similar situation so thanks for starting this thread! Ds1 is 3yrs 6mths and is completely oblivious to the concept of toilet-training. Nappy changing is a nightmare as he is very strong and big for his age. He also gets very sore. How DO you teach them that they should be using the toilet??

Jimjams · 17/12/2003 13:47

There is a book about autism and potty training - maybe one of your local health places has it?

We started by getting him to sit on the toilet - and play. We did the same as you- rush him over there. It suddenly clicked one day and he is now dry I would say it took about a year and half to get there though!

Original poster

SPACLINE · 17/12/2003 14:58

Just had the community autism nurse visit & he said he'll refer our problem to a specialist in continence for the new year but it will be a slow going thing & it just might not be "globally" the right time for ds to begin.So if I get any good tips from this continence specialist Ill post them but for now Ill just carry on.I wonder if his teacher at nursery could keep showing him others using the toilet or potty & hope it sinks in,thats how my ds1 did it but hes v.high functioning,just a thought.

OP posts:

Jimjams · 17/12/2003 15:23

Do you use pecs? Or a visual timetable. One way is to introduce it into the visual timetable.

coppertop · 17/12/2003 18:59

Ds1 seems to have an absolute phobia of the toilet - even with training seats, steps etc. We got him a potty chair and, in true auti fashion he put it back in the box. I think we'll be leaving it a bit longer....

Jimjams · 17/12/2003 19:03

lol coppertop. I gave up on the idea of training on the potty as I thought I would just have to retrain on the toilet (mind you as he was only trained by 4 he couldn't fit on the potty anyway).

He wasn't keen on the toilet at first. he got over that when I found his sitting on it splashing around with his feet down the bowl one day!

Eulalia · 18/12/2003 20:27

Well I have to admit we used bribery. Trained ds at 3.5 in a week with a reward of a small cake and he soon started doing it without the cake. Have to say though that nearly a year later he is still having accidents. Seems to be worse at the moment for some reason.

coppertop · 25/02/2004 21:59

A progress report:

Ds1 pulled the potty/training seat thingy out of the box (where it's been for the last 3 months) and put it back together again. I thought we were really on to something (no pun intended ) and were thrilled when his playgroup told us a few days later that he'd been sitting on the toilet there. Even better he'd let them put some 'big boy pants' on him.

He never actually did anything. He would just sit there for a few minutes, get up again and wet himself a couple of minutes later. I thought that this was okay as it's how most children seem to start their toilet-training. Too late I realised that this constant toilet-visiting had nothing to do with wanting to use the toilet but was a new obsession!! He spends nearly the whole of his playgroup time going back and forth to the toilet (literally every 30 seconds). The staff aren't quite sure how to deal with it. On the one hand they don't want to discourage him but they also realise that spending 2.5hrs in the toilet isn't doing him any favours either. There's also the issue that when he's in there none of the other children can go to the toilet. The toilet area is too small for them to put a potty chair in there for him to use while the others use the toilet.

So, do I let him carry on with this obsession in the hope that he'll actually get the concept of toilet-training (and miss out on a lot of interaction activities etc)? Or do I try to wean him off it and risk him losing all interest in toilet-training?

HELP!

dinosaur · 25/02/2004 22:09

Oooh, tough one Coppertop. I am the world's worst potty trainer. DS1 wasn't dry until he was a bit over three and a half (and not clean for a good few months after that, nightmare, six pairs of pooey pants per day sometimes!). And he's still not dry at night. And even non-autistic DS2 aged two and a half has rebelled completely against potty and pants, although he was quite keen not so long ago

I wasn't sure from your post how long your DS has been doing it for - is it just a few days or has this already been going on for quite a while? If the former, I would be tempted to give it a little longer and see what happens e.g. he just might do a wee in the toilet on one of his visits there, and then start to get the hang of it. But if it's already been going on for weeks with no sign of him "producing" anything in the toilet, I think I would try and limit his visits, if you can.

Eulalia · 28/02/2004 19:52

What about taking his toilet from home to Playgroup? I found using the toilet outside the home didn't click with ds till he was nearly 4 - so I am sure it will get better.

KPB · 28/02/2004 21:13

When I was potty training dd we had a few problems and I bought a really good book from the NCT on potty training. One idea for SN children was to actually place a nappy over the potty - to provide the visual clue. It didn't work with dd (although she did get it eventually at 3yrs) but could work with other children. With my dd (who isn't autistic but does have significant language problems) I would take her to the toilet with me, her brother, anyone just hoping that eventually she would get the idea. I even made my son who was by then using the toilet, use the potty infront of her and eventually after about 6 months of hard work the "penny" (no pun intended) dropped!
Good luck and I hope this may be helpful

coppertop · 29/02/2004 15:01

Thanks for all your ideas.

It turned out to be the beginning of yet another obsession but the playgroup staff have been brilliant with him. Unfortunately he lost all interest in the potty chair we have at home. Instead he tries to use it as a storage box for his toy cars.

It's becoming clear that he isn't really interested in getting out of nappies so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

It's really difficult to write about this subject without any unintended toilet puns, isn't it?

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