Question?
Abby turned three on June 19, 2007. She is not potty trained yet has no desired to be. Abby will walk around with a soiled diaper for hours if she could and it would not bother her. She does know what a potty is and will take her diaper off and sit on it but has never done nothing in the potty. Sometimes I have to chase her around to change her diaper. Also alot of times her bowel movements are very soft and messy.
Since alot of children with ASD have sensory issues and are very routine is this the reason why she is not even close or is it because she just is not ready? How do you know if it is because of the ASD or because she is a 3 year old who is not ready yet? Will she ever be bothered by a soiled diaper? maybe I should just go right to panties and see if that effects her.
Any suggestions?I think just like w/ NT kids, it's a very individual thing. For us, dd's
doctors have said it may not happen until after 4, not to worry about it.
The big thing is, just like your dd, our Emma (1 mo older than Abby) will
walk around in a horribly messy diaper. Often, the only time she says
anything is when it's leaking down her leg. We learned over the summer
when using those swim disposable diapers that the wet/messy factor
wouldn't change things (like wearing panties).
In her IEP, the first step is getting her to identify when her diaper is wet &
soiled. Once she is letting us know this on a regular basis, we will begin
the whole potty training thing. So, maybe that's where you want to
begin? We ordered a great potty social book (came w/ 2 PECS strips too)
from autismshopper.com.
I know for our older dd, the signs that she was ready were: going to a
private area to do her business (she often chose her closet!), requesting
to be changed and/or removing her diaper herself, waking up dry, being
able to take pants off--Emma doesn't do any of those things. I would
approach it like this: for reasons related to ASD or not, your dd doesn't
appear to be ready. I would wait for cues that she is, & in the meantime
maybe social stories will help move the process along a bit.Thanks for the advice. Now that you have mentioned it I do notice that she is starting to go off by herself and make it a little more private when she is going to the bathroom. I guess in our world it's one TINY step at a time.
Mommy to Abby Grace 3yrs old/PDD/NOS
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