Toilet Training - Any hints?
Download 2 Free
|
| Back to Autism Information >> Next Topic | ||
|
Hi, I would like to make some attempts to to toilet training my 3.4 year old son, but I'm at a loss as he only has a few words in his vocab. I often see him grabbing his nappy when he pees and if I see him dirtying his nappy and ask him 'are you doing a poo?' he will come over when he is finished and want his nappy off. He constantly has his hands around the band of his nappy making it loose and I think this is because it rubs him. Nappy changes are fun and I suspect he likes the cuddles/kissing/belly rasberries. Should I stop this? Any hints from parents would be very much appreciated (especially if the child is non verbal) Mysh as soon as you see him grab his diaper pick him up and run for the potty, if he wont go cause hes not in his diaper wait, he will have to go within minutes, kylo isnot potty trained yet, but thats what we are doing, if he doesnt like sitting on the potty offer him a toy, or a book. my brother gave us his portable dvd player as kylo can make me wait for up tp 20 mins and thats a long time to make a kid sit on the potty, i hope this helps, goodluckA few tips from our early childhood autism team: 1. all diaper changes occur in the bathroom. Teach him how to change himself so that over time, this becomes completely his job. 2. Take him to go sit on the toilet every 20 minutes. He can sit briefly. If diaper is dry at the time- LOTS of praise (you can include your kisses and snuggles here)and announcements that we keep pants dry and pee goes in the toilet. 3. If wet, very neutral reaction, announce that pee goes in the potty not in the pants, and help him change or have him change himself (no rasperries, kisses or tickles, this is not the fun time). 4. Whether wet or dry, NO FLUSHING unless he actually pees in the toilet. 5. The moment he leaves the bathroom, bring him to the kitchen for a "treat" for trying: a freezee, popsicle, or juice. (Yes the idea is to make him have to pee). 6. 20 minutes later, repeat. check it out! http://autismtoilettraining.com/info1a.php Also IMHO it is necessary to get rid of the diapers/nappies and make the switch to BBU/BGU (Big Boy or Girl Undies). When Rebecca was 3 she HATED being wet. I think I made a mistake by letting her wear a pullup at night. -- Meg Hi, Mysh! My son also only had a few words when I began toilet training him. I made toilet pics from the PEC system (on 2 inch by 2 inch square paper, laminated and velcro on back) and had one velcroed outside each bathroom door and also one on the refrigerator in the kitchen, and one hanging on a small ring clasp on my handbag. Each time I brought him to the bathroom, I would take a toilet picture and have him hand it back to me, saying "potty" then have him sit on the potty, give him one of his favorite picture books to read (most of these books had a read-a-long cassette tape) and put on the tape. He would sit for about 10 minutes and if he had a success he would get to choose a small candy treat from a special reward bag. If he had a #2 , he would get to choose a small toy gift that was wrapped in gift wrap paper from another reward bag. I would also check his underwear between going to the bathroom to reward him for keeping his underwear dry by giving him lots of praise for dry pants. It took four months until he was 100% trained (and lots of candy and gift rewards!!). Good luck to you, and be consistent with whatever method you choose.Here's what I ended up doing, and I have to admit it's a bit unconventional, but it worked. First, I did not even attempt to start potty training my son until he turned 4. I knew in my heart that emotionally he was not ready, and I didn't want to put myself through a lot of undue stress. However, at age 3 I put him in Pull-Ups. At 3.5, I began taking him into the bathroom to change his pull-up. I didn't lay him down on the floor, but instead had him stand up, pulled down his pants, removed his pull-up (the kind with the reclosable sides), sat him on the potty and had him wipe himself with toilet paper then throw it in the potty (for pee....more on poop in a minute). I put a new pull-up on, had him pull up his own pants, flush the toilet, then wash his hands. Essentially, we did every step other than having him actually go pee in the potty. This became quite routine for him, and although it sounds like it would take a lot of time, it really didn't. For poop, I simply sat him down on the potty BEFORE taking the pull-up off, dropped the poop in the potty from the pull-up (sorry to be so graphic), wiped him, then had him do the last wipe, and followed the rest of the steps listed above. The week he turned 4 I decided to bite the bullet and fully train him. Prior to this I did a lot of talking about it and verbally recognizing when he was going in his pull-up. To train him I went straight to underwear. It took 1, count it 1 day to fully potty train him....day and night. I think a great deal of my success lies in the fact that he fully understood every step of the process, and once he got the actual pee and poop in the potty piece, it clicked. He absolutely hated being in wet pants/underwear, so after wetting himself a few times the first day, by day two, after catching him right before a BM and putting him on the potty to do it (which he did), he made the connection. Doubt this approach would work for everyone as it's a bit unconventional and really doesn't follow the standard "potty training" advice. However, knowing what I now know about ASD kids I understand why it worked so well for my son. There are so many steps in the whole "use the potty" process I think our kids get overwhelmed by it all and shut down. By allowing him to learn the majority of the step without pressure, by the time he was ready, he was successful from the beginning. That's just my story. If it works for someone else...fantastic! Son 4.5 HFA All great ideas.... will give me something to think about. I was thinking about trying the pullups and I'm glad to hear they worked for others. I went straight to undies with my other two so its nice to know there are alternatives. I bought Lachlan a dvd called "On your Potty" today - it also comes with a book, so I might start letting watch the dvd first and using the book when he actually makes the transition. I really like the idea of the toilet pics... I found a couple of pictures in my aba materials. Mysh ok here is my story but not accomplished anything yet. i tried pull ups and underwear. unsucesful. he didnt like how pull up fell and underwear forget that,he would start tantrums for half hour until he got them off at some point. he still in huggies size 6 but they getting tight on hips. my son is almost 3 1/2 years old . he started school now and schools demands pull ups and he is using them at school. teacher tells me he is doing pee pee in bathroom at school when they take him or occasionally he tells them he has to pee. as for poop she said he tried once but got emotional and didnt do it in bathroom. here at home we tried this weekend cause he was in a good mood at the bathroom and said poop so i went with him he was all giggling...thinking he might go, he didnt just farted Lol. but he did sit and waited without tantrums (which is what he did since i have tried to make him go) my son is pdd nos so you can imagine how hard,he is HS ...he talks but not in sentences or have a conversations. as for bath sometimes he takes them hapy sometimes i have to force him and tantrums comes along very strong ,so i do it very quick.
anybody has a child that in school does better with training than home? I think the reason why kids do better at school is because they are on a strict schedule. My son ( 3.5), will go at school with the aides and not wet himself but at home if I don't take him, he will go in his pants. Although, when we are out somewhere he will tell me he has to go potty. I just don't get it but instead of sitting him down on the toilet (which he hates and I didn't know) We stand up like daddy does and it worked. Also my niece put Cherios cereal in the toilet and told him get the Cherios and that worked for him because it was fun. I hope this helps anyone who is trying. Good luck! I wish all of us luck in what ever way we get them to do it! Hey Shenom, I liked your approach, was your child verbal at the time? Would this work for a child who has a couple words? How does he tell you now that he has to go? ALSO, For those still in the "transition to potty" phase, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR CHILD CAN'T WEAR SIZE 6 DIAPERS ANYMORE? HELP!! He's in pull-ups during the day but for night his diapers are not doing it and he's in the last size. What is good for overnights? I use the nightime pull-ups for the day. I know this isn't related to the topic but in a way it is
Several things worked to potty train my son for the day time (he's 9 now) First, his speech therapist taught him the sign for "potty". (Place your thumb between your first two fingers and make a fist. Then rotate your fist back and forth.) That gave him the ability to communicate that he had to go. We also used the PECS system to incorporate bathroom time into his routine schedule. Next, his teacher modified his pullup by cutting a hole directly in front of his penis, so that while still wearing the pullup, he could still go. Security, she said was the reason kids hang on to pull ups as long as possible. Once he realized he was still "secure" with his pull up on, he was able to release his urine into the toilet. Sounds crazy, but it worked! She also taught me to modify his pullup (for the bowel movements) but he has not been able to pass that hurdle yet, as he only seems to pass bowel movements in the wee hours of the morning...yawn...still dealing with that issue. Good luck! Hope this helps! Oh! Sorry, forgot to mention the other thing that helped tremendously was that my son grasped the concept of "empty" and full". Just before he would pee (knowing he had to go) I would announce that his bladder was "full" and then after he went, reinforce that his bladder was "empty". So that he could begin to tell the difference. Juice in a cup is also a concrete way to illustrate the concept to a young child, as long as the cup is obviously FULL or empty. Half full and half empty glasses are philosophical questions best left to others...
hello, if you need them for nightime buy huggies overnights pullups. they start from xs to xl in sizes. my son is 3 1/2 and 6 i use it at home ,its getting kind of tight so for school he uses pull ups but he is up to 5t in those and he has junki in the trunk so i had to use overnights by huggies or any store brand as pullups for school and it goes in smoothly and easier for him to learn to pull down [QUOTE=juls35inva] Hey Shenom, I liked your approach, was your child verbal at the time? Would this work for a child who has a couple words? How does he tell you now that he has to go? ALSO, For those still in the "transition to potty" phase, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR CHILD CAN'T WEAR SIZE 6 DIAPERS ANYMORE? HELP!! He's in pull-ups during the day but for night his diapers are not doing it and he's in the last size. What is good for overnights? I use the nightime pull-ups for the day. I know this isn't related to the topic but in a way it is [/QUOTE] juls - My son was somewhat verbal when I trained him. At 3 his vocabulary was pretty limited. I had attempted to put him on the potty a couple of times betweeen the ages of 3-3.5, and all he did was "kick and scream". It was at that point I knew I needed to "desensitize" him to it first. By making going into the bathroom as a regular part of the routine, he developed a comfort level with it. By age 4 he understood what "pee" and poop" meant, and he'd had a lot of exposure watching the other boys at school use the potty. All these things helped tremendously. I think it was critical to get him out of the pull-ups and into underwear to make it work. I will caution you, however, that it takes a lot of resolve to have an untrained kid in underwear.....you are virtually housebound for several days. My husband was home on vacation during that week, so that helped a lot. I was pretty floored, however, that it went so fast. I think a lot of it was simply a case of the moon and stars colliding and the timing being just right. You really have to go with your gut on this. Also, I bribed BIG TIME with chocolate. And not the cheap kind either....the good stuff. It was a really small price to pay. So, how does he tell me know? For the most part, he doesn't. He just goes in by himself and does his thing. If we're out in public, he will let me know if he has to go, by telling me he needs to go "pee" or "poop". Generally, I have him use the potty before we leave the house, so it's usually not an issue. If we're out for a long time, I'll take him in to the restroom whenever I have to use it and ask him if he needs to go....sometimes he does/other times not. He has a lot of self-control and can go for as long as 4-5 hours without urinating. Needless to say, we haven't had a lot of accidents. He has a twin NT sister, who believe it or not was even harder to train than him (they say girls are easier than boys...not!). She had lots of power struggle/control issues with me. Needless to say, once he potty trained, she also did a few days later. The process I used with her, though was completely different....and much harder I might add. I found that what didn't work with either of them was the ole' "sit em on the potty for 10 minutes until they go". Never worked. They simply couldn't/wouldn't/didn't want to do it. You really have to try and identify what it is that might be keeping your child from feeling comfortable with the whole process, then chip away at it one step at a time.
It's been 6 months since we first started with our daughter. We tried the pull up thing before March but never worked, so we just put her in regular underwear and had the dvd player in the bathroom for the first few weeks. She went and loved to be in there. However, she still doesn't really tell us she has to go (she is verbal for the most part). When she started school this fall (august 7th, in AZ), if was at a private school where they don't take them at certain intervals but rely on the kid to go by themselves. There is a bathroom in the classroom. She had a few accidents, so our habilitator and I wrote a social story about going to the potty at school, it seems to have helped and her teacher now makes a statement that she should go to the potty and she does. We even wrote one about the potty steps just to reinforce it. She is 3.75 yr ol and is PDD/Autistic HFA. We are still in pull ups at night. I tried putting her in underwear but she would wet herself and not even wake up. One day this past weekend she woke up with a dry pull up, but that is only one in however many days. Anyway, I'm going to have to try the full and empty concept and see if that will make her tell us or just make her go by herself. Forgot to mention, I just got a letter in the mail from the Arizona Department of Developmental Disabilities that they will be providing incontinence pads (including pull ups) for people 3 to 21 years of age with developmental disabilities. I guess a bunch of parents (class action) took them to court about it and now they are trying to settle it out of court. Just thought some of you might find that interesting. |
||
|
Copyright Autism-PDD.net
|
