My kids were not potty trained until the age of 7, which is not unusual for kids on the spectrum. As far as being potty trained before being mainstreamed, not true with my kids. It was in their IEP that they had pullups. And I was never told they couldn't be mainstreamed until they were potty trained. Would the regular ed teachers prefer that? Oh yeah, but if it is in their IEP that they are not, here at least they go along with it.
Tammy
I saw an article somewhere on the web when I was training my oldest son. It started with taking the child into the bathroom at the regular time they went BM (roughly 10 minutes before hand to 10 minutes aftwards) and slowly increasing the time they are in the bathroom until about 30 minutes before hand and 30 minutes afterward), just letting them play and going BM in the diaper in the bathroom. Then after they are used to being in there to start having them sit on the potty (with diaper on and fully dressed) and playing while they BM. Then when they accomplish that move to taking their pants off (but still wearing the diaper). Then once thats accomplished it said to start cutting small holes in the diaper, increasing the size of the hole over time until its just the outter edges of the diaper still on and then to remove the diaper all together. It seems that for some children on the spectrum, the ritual and feeling of having the diaper on is what is hindering the removal of it.
HTH
HTH,
Oh i have no doubt that the reason i am having such a hard time training my son is because he likes the feel of the diaper. The only thing he will do with a REAL pair of undies is put them on his head like a spiderman mask!!! LOL OH and of course his unbelievable fear of sitting on the pot itself. GOSH this kid drives me crazy!!! LOL
Karrie
thats a good thing to know about the hole in the diaper but mason wont wear diapers anymore has to be his underwear and he will go and poop in them and then come and tell me. he will sit on the potty but refuses to poop in it will sit there and scream. he stands to pee which is no problem.
There are some books like address this. It's all about where animals poo, and then where humans poo... can't think of the name, I am hoping this will jog someone elses memory.
Check out toilet training books at bookstores. Read them only on the toilet.
My ds needed to have his feet planted on a stool to have a bm. Gave him something to push against when he was pushing.
How does your ds pee?? Is it standing up?? He may be confused about that.
Keep in mind that some children on the spectrum ARE social, especially w/ adults. That could mean that the child is pdd-nos and not classically autistic too. I'd ask doc about that because I've heard in some places they try to be too black and white, but with the spectrum there is SO much grey area. I'm glad the deep brushing worked for you. It didn't seem to make any change in my ds. He hasn't been dx'd yet, but the evaluators who put him in speech therapy said he has mild/moderate sensory integration disorder and gave me the brush. They said if it's going to change his behaviors I would notice in w/in 1-4 weeks, but nothing so i quit doing it as it ticked him off lol.
Amber
Thank you all so very much for your suggestions with the toiletting. My son does watch his big brother go (and sometimes me as well, it is hard to get a minute to myself even on the toilet!!!). When he does go in his diaper then we empty it in the toilet together so he knows where it is supposed to be. The therapist told me to try the technique of him wearing the diaper on the toilet which was successful once but as soon as he realised then he would not do it again. I think though I will try to have him fully dressed in the toilet room (with a diaper) and get him to stay in there and play until he does a bm. I did not try this before. Up until about 6 months ago, every time we went to a public swimming pool or the beach he would do a bm in his bathers every time guaranteed!!! He relaxed in the water and i think this helped, sometimes he even went in the bath, however this stopped on its own. He has not been constipated and the therapist suggested to give him prune juice in the morning so he will go in the afternoon on a regular basis. But my son has the holding power of an elephant!!!!! He just won't let go unless he is in his bed at night, sometimes in his sleep. I think I just need to persist and let him go at his own pace. It is nice to know there are others who share this issue and i thank you for your support. I will keep you posted if i have any luck.
My son is 3 and is not autistic but displays some autistic behaviours. He is speech delayed and can be obsessive when it comes to routine and other things (eg jigsaw puzzles). He used to be a head banger then moved on to lip biting until his lips and mouth would bleed terribly and now he obsessively twirls his hair. We are in Australia and we see an OT and a behavioural therapist. His behavioural therapist believes that he would be diagnosed as autistic except he is a very social child and interacts well with adults and children (most of the time). We were given the brush to do deep pressure brushing and this has worked very well with speech, eating new foods and controlling the head banging and lip/mouth biting. Our new problem is trying to get him to do poo on the toilet. He will urinate in the toilet no problems but will not poo in the toilet at all. We have tried blowing techniques (balloons, bubbles, party blowers) but he is smart enough to have figured out to blow and hold on at the same time. I know he is only 3 but does anyone have any suggestions?i feel for you-my son is 3 1/2 and has been pee trained for 3 months now with no problems but he will not and refused to poop in the toilet he goes in his underwear.
i am new to the board and as everyone tells me every child with autism is different on the spectrum scale. they are better at some things-yours in social.
my son was diag. just a month ago with asd autism spectrum disorder. he was in speech this past school year with little to no success. he will start in special education in sept. i dont know what the school there do but i would see about getting him into the pre-shcool in your school district. it sound like to me he is on the autistic spectrum just as my son is.
my son is going to be starting ot for his sensory problems. i know with my son we beleive he has what they call leaky gut. he does not have formed stools. and i think he can not really tell when he has to go cuz they are so soft and mussy-so to be so graphic. we are getting more test done on him.
hope this helps some
Our little guy is 4.5 now and has been peeing in the toilet for about 1.5 yrs. The only time I was able to get him to poop in the toilet was when we were on vacation at the hotel!!
Our problem is that he still has no way to communicate his need to pee/poop so we are working on the sign or PECS picture for that! (he is supposed to give me the picture of the toilet and I take him there and help him)
O.k. I know this is going to sound gross, but many of our kids are visual learners. Could you let him observe you, your partner, or a sibling going poop on the toilet? Does he have any problem with constipation? If it hurts to go poop, chances are good that he won't. Gavin has a dx of both down syndrome and autism. Sometimes, despite my best efforts he gets terribly constipated. He's found his own cure for this, though. When I put him in his nice, clean, warm bath he poops! Then, since he knows poop doesn't belong in the tub, he throws it out of the tub!! (LOL) I've got to rate that at least a "10" on my mommy gross-o-meter!
Good luck finding something that works for both of you!
-sleeplessinmn
Hello all I would also like to know how to get my ds to have a bm in the regular toilet!!!! He pees in it but refuses to sit on it!! He is terrified we are still using a small potty chair for his bm's. Up until 7 months ago they all went on the bathroom floor next to the toilet