potty training resistance? | Autism PDD

Jake absolutely refuses to go without pull ups or underwear. He won't even just go with underwear or pull ups - he has to have underwear/pullups AND his pants. So the whole going bottomless didn't work for us, because of Jake's sensory issues. Now my other son, LOVES to run around in just a diaper or nothing. I don't know if this is related to Jake's 'issues' or if he's just stubborn or what, but we are having a very difficult time getting him potty trained. It seems to me that he understands that he's supposed to go on the potty, but he just can't tell when he has to go BEFORE he goes, and he just doesn't want to be bothered with it. It seems like he's thinking "I've worn diapers for four years now, and I like them. They're convenient and I don't see the point in using the potty now -which is more difficult and less convenient, just because you say its time". We've even tried bribing him with video games -- and he'll sit on the potty, but he rarely (only one time in the past week) actually goes in the potty. And he never asks to or attempts to without being told "if you sit on the potty you can play leapster". I'm getting really frustrated with this. He's supposed to start Kindergarten in fall 2008, and he'll need to be fully trained by that point. I know it's a year away, but we've been working on this, with varying intensity, since he was 18 months old!!!!!!!!! I'm at a loss. He doesn't seem to be afraid of the toilet, or the bathroom, or flushing. It doesn't appear to be a sensory sensitivity - except for maybe not being able to tell when he has to go. Any ideas?????

There are a lot of threads out there that might help with this...I would post them for you but I don't know how to add links, sorry.

But do a search under potty maybe and a lot should come up.

For us it was more, we just had to wait until he was ready, which wasn't until he was 5 and already in kindergarten...we needed to be very consistent, and I would take him to the bathroom every 1/2 in the beginning and make him sit as long as I could to get him to go...he needed to learn that he needed to stop what he was doing to go potty.  It eventually worked and I was able to taper off how often I would have to take him.  In our case, rewards didn't really work, and neither did him seeing his younger sister train...it was more-just when he was ready and comfortable.

Good luck!

Did you have him in pullups, diapers, or regular underpants while you were training?

He was in pull-ups...it was easier for us bcuz he didn't show any concern when he would wet his underpants anyway.  So easier for the clean-up.  He started kindergarten in pull-ups too...he also had some BM problems, but we finally got that somewhat under control...we were able to put him in regular underwear after that.

But I don't think the pull-ups hindered his progress...he would go either way, pull-ups or underwear.  Just be VERY consistent...it is a lot of work in the beginning, but it becomes pretty easy after it becomes part of your routine. 

We had to have our kids go without pullups *or* underwear for the first few days of training, otherwise we had constant accidents in the underwear.
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