3.5 is sort-of early for kids on the spectrum. The most verbal start at about this time. If your son fits into that category (using short sentences, etc.) he may be developmentally ready. tzoya - Well I wouldn't exactly call him really verbal. He does say some short sentences like "I did it", "see ya later", "want more please", etc. I'll basically just be doing it in the afternoon after he gets home from school. Today after he pooped in his diaper, I put him in undies and he didn't have an accident all afternoon. We sat on the potty quite a few times but nothing happened. I'll keep trying and see how it goes. If he doesn't seem ready yet, back to diapers we go. I've been trying every couple of months.
My 3.5 yo ds is about ready to potty train (I think). He holds his poo all day at school and does it within 30-45 minutes of being at home...and he always goes to "hide" while he does it. If I see him heading off, I ask him if he wants to use the potty to which I get his newest word "NO!"
Any advice? I've tried m&ms as bribes before but never had any success.
I wish I had some advise for you, sorry. I have sort of given up for a while with training Collin. I just dont think he is ready yet, its so frustrating though. I know he knows what he is supposed to to, in fact he has done it a couple times. But I dont think he wants to yet, plus I dont think he has the ability to control/hold it.
Good luck, and let me know if you find anything that works. Sorry no advice here.. but i wanted to wish you good luck.. I am trying
to do the same here with my son who is 3 years 5 months he is a
hard one he hides also and tels me right before he ha sto go but has a
fear of the potty i gave up for a while and i am thinking of trying
again over spring break when i have a week of just us and nothing to
do.. I know that my cousin had a hard time potty traning her almost 5
year old about 6 months ago he is autistic and she started him on
zinc and he was potty trained within 2 weeks.. now he is fully potty
trained i have zinc also but have not given it to my son i am holding
off until i talk with his ped.. I want to make sure it is safe to give
especially because it helps brain development and i know that is a good
thing but not sure yet...
I used a bit of an unorthadoxed approach with my son, however, as a
result I had him completely potty trained 24/7 in ONE DAY.....yes, that's
right ONE DAY.
First off, I didn't even begin the process until he turned 4. The only thing
I did prior to then was to teach him all the steps OTHER than actually
going in the potty. So, when it was time to change his pull-up, I would
take him in the bathroom, have him sit on the potty, I removed it, then
had him wipe himself and pull up his pants. He then flushed the toilet
and washed his hands. I started this whole process at least 3 months
before I decided to try to completely potty train him.
Once he turned 4, and I sensed that his language/comprehension had
developed to a point that we could converse about the process, I bit the
bullet, set a week aside, and put him in underwear full time (other than at
night, although by this time he was waking up dry every
morning....another indication he was ready). The first day he had about
3-4 accidents and absolutely hated being wet. Each time, I'd clean him
up in the bathroom and put him back in underwear. On day two, while he
was playing on the computer, I saw him squirming around and asked him
if he need to go poop. He said, "yes", I picked him up, took him to the
potty, and he went. My jaw just about hit the ground. I was thrilled! And
he was pretty please with himself too. He got a huge chocolate reward
(his favorite). A little bit later on, I took him in there and sat him down to
go pee. He said to me, "can we go to Krispy Kreme". I replied,
"absolutely, if you go pee". And he did. That's all it took. He was
completely potty trained from that point on, day and night. Think he may
have had a couple of accidents during the next few weeks, but he learned
quickly from them.
I think the reason this approach worked so well for me was because he
learned all the steps involved in the process, other than actually using the
potty first. So, by the time he mastered the actually potty/pee step, he
had everything else down and it wasn't quite so overwhelming. I broke it
down into simple, understandable steps, and took away a lot of the
overall confusion I think some of our kids feel with the entire process.
So, that's my story. Ironically enough, it was much harder to potty train
his NT twin sister. She finally got on board after my son mastered it
(within a week....hated to be outdone by him), but her issue was more
about a power struggle with me than not understanding what was
expected of her. She can be extremely hard-headed at times!Brandy,
I can e-mail you the protocol we've used for potty training in the behavioral program I work for. I agree that for most kids they're not ready until they're verbal, but I just want to say that I have potty trained non-verbal kids before. Just remember every kid is different, and if you think Nate is ready, then you might as well give it a try.
Good Luck!
Jessica
obrijm09@gmail.com
Brandy,
I found that consistency was the key for us. First I waited until I knew for sure Adam was physically ready. Dry diaper in the morning...etc. The hardest part for us was HIM not wanting to change from diapers/pull ups to under ware and actually having to go on the potty when it was time to go. He had so many meltdowns and it was the longest week of my life. I kept him out of school for a week to get a good head start. I made a reward chart that he could see and put stickers on when he did put something in the pot. He did hold himself for over 24 hours during the first 3 days so His OT suggested I put him in the tub to make him go and it worked....he screamed the whole time because he had "lost" that battle..LOL After that his OT said for us to put his hand in warm water when he sat on the pot to get him to release it and that didn't work so she said to go to trickling warm water over him while sitting there and that DID work. So we did the water for about 2 days and then he would start to automatically go when he sat up there. What really did it though was after day 4 he filled his 4 squares with stickers and was able to go to the store to claim his prize. After he got the prize that we had been talking about and working for it just CLICKED with him. After that we used the chart for about a month adding more and more squares to be able to get the prize and then we just faded it out once it became routine. For the first few days I took him to the potty once an hour and gave him LOTS of fluids etc. Hope this helps.
Karrie
Good Luck...........Lochie just couldn't grasp the idea and we have had to put him back in nappies. We are now trying a slower approach and that is just getting him to watch the other kids at daycare and talking about 'wees' a lot more.
Mysh
We started at 2 1/2 years old. We used a timer. Everytime it went off he knew we had to go to the bathroom, just to sit. I would praise him just for sitting. We kept up with this way of training, and now he is 5 years old and fully potty trained. He actually goes into the bathroom on his own. It so wonderful to see this happening. The only thing I have to still help him wipe and make sure he washes his hands. It really is a great feeling once they accomplish this. It sounds like he is ready!
Good Luck
Potty training was extremely hard for us because of Sarah's control issues.. she could hold it all day and even now that she is fully trained for almost 2 years she still will hold it all day.. We tried everything: schedules,staying in bathroom all day with underwear on, tv in bathroom with favorite video for reward, surprise box filled with toys/stickers, posters of rewards for going pee/poo. She just had no motivation or care. Just when we gave up and let her be and without prompts and schedules ...wa-laa she went totally on her own. She's a stubborn stinker poot! The teacher gets her to go in morning at school and luckly the bathroom is in the kindergarten room but next year it will be a problem..she will not ask to go! At home she just goes but I still will prompt her if her body language is screaming" I gotta go but this movie/computer is too interesting to go" :P
Good luck!
Shelley
My son is 4.5. The day he was diagnosed (at 2 yrs old) with mild autism the doctor told us that we should not expect him to potty train until he is 6 or 7. One of his OTs lent me a book about toilet training kids with autism. One thing it suggested doing is keeping a record of the times he pees and poops. After two weeks of tracking this you are supposed to bring the child into the bathroom before the approximate time they will "go" and plop them on the potty. When I tried this I had two problems. 1) I wasn't sure when he peed...he is still in diapers. 2) Enzo turned into a VERY stiff board when I tried to place him on the potty. He screamed that "THE POTTY IS FOR MOMMY AND DADDY AND NOT FOR ENZOS". But hey, it was in a BOOK, maybe it will help you!
Now Enzo is in school and they get him to go just by bringing him in on a schedule. I try this and he resists so I quit. This is probably where my problem lies. There are days when I get so tired of fighting with him that I just feel like it is none of my business if he wants to sit in his own filth. Of course the Mom in me takes back over and we hit the toilets again. Some day it will work and, like every other obstacle we have overcome, I won't know if it was him or me but it will be behind us!
BEST OF LUCK FOR A LIFE WITHOUT DIAPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I attempted to potty train Cami last month for the 3rd time. She's strongwilled and nonverbal, so it's quite a challenge. I took the week off during her winter break and focused on potty training. Got a lot of resistance in the beginning. But consistency is definitely key. I made her go through the potty train routine and with lots of praise and reward, she started to get it. Now she says pee pee when she needs to go. I still can't get her to go #2 on the toilet but she generally stays dry all day...even goes pee at school now during toilet time. I honestly didn't think she'd be ready but now I truly believe we'll be diaper free before she turns 5
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