Potty Training! - Farmington, NM

Hi there! I am a special education student at Metro. I recently heard in one of my classes of an interesting way they helped an child with autism become potty trained. They had another child the same age make a video of how he goes to the bath room at school step by step. The child then held a video player and watched the video while he went through the steps on his own. Nothing had worked with this child before this and now he is fully potty trained.

My only new the ropes by 19mos. but refused to try, even tho' all her friends were trained. Just like yours, she'd refuse at home. Her doc was brilliant. With strong-willed ones, you have to act cool as a cucumber, even tho' you're frustrated out of your gourd. When at home, encourage her when she goes through the motions, even tho' no results. Say: "no big deal, at least next time, if you have to go, you know what to do." Act poker-faced and unemotional when "changing" her. [The idea is she gets NO attention over this.] Make sure her pull-ups are NOT the cute, soft ones, but the boring cheap plain ones. Tell her you can't afford the fancy ones. When shopping, make sure you "accidentally" walk by the cute cotton underwear dept. Let her browse if she wants. Mention that she can get the cool ones when she's ready. [My girl found the character panties she couldn't live w/out.] It's amazing how quickly this worked for us. The hardest part is covering up your own frustration. It is ESSENTIAL that you act like all this is no big deal. It will work wonders in your relationship all the way through. Strong will is good....in this world, it is a strength for the child. A definite challenge for the parents, but a blessing in disguise.
Good luck, and stay "light",
C. S.

My son would not potty train until I finally put him in regular underwear and just let him run without the security of a pull up. Amazingly, it was as if someone threw a switch - he never had an accident! He was a little past his 3rd birthday. So maybe the thing for your daughter would be to show her daily that the stack of pull ups is getting smaller and just stick her in big girl pants. And be patient with any messes - they are bound to happen but it will be worth it! Good luck.

A friend of mine has an autistic son, I believe it took some time to potty train him. I wanna say he was somewhere between 3 and 4 years old. I do remember that its when he started school that he took an interest in it. Give her some time and being around all the other kids everyday will really help. Good Luck

In working with children and in recently potty training my almost three year old, I feel putting the child in underwear is the best solution. My son has been using the potty for almost 8 months,but not to have a bowel movement and not during the night. We kept putting pull ups on him and I feel that he just got comfortable with that and we did too! About two weeks ago, I decided we were just going to use underwear and we have been accident free since. No awards, no gimmicks-just a few pairs of 'special' underwear he/she doesn't want to soil. I hope this helps.

My 3 year old has a great bladder.. but with her, I just kept putting underwear on her. Try the musical potty and sit her in front of the TV. It is all about training the bladder and it difficult for some more than others. If she is willing to cuddle with a book, you can get the "Potty Book for Girls" and see how that works....

E. our son seasons so he does well for awhile and regresses. We finally got him completely potty trained when school started for him this year. I followed the advise and nurturing of a wonderful book called Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism & Related Disorders by Maria Wheeler M. Ed. I see that your post was from September so you may have already solved your problem but if you are still looking I have the book and would be happy to let you borrow it.

Hi E., I am a mother of a special needs five year old girl. Victoria has poor tone in lower body and I do believe this is the reason she is not D. training. I go to meetings and have heard some special kids are 6-8 before they are trained. Victorias team that works with her in kidergarden have been helping me with this. I know one day she will be on her own for this life task and I will be patient while she learns and yes we have had all kinds of accidents and some people even like to judge us as parents but I dont care she is special and I love her the way she is today. tommorow is a new day for Victoria......God bless you and your family Vickie

E.,

Potty training a child with special needs is a little bit different than the average child. Often, it may take a little bit longer. I would speak to your child's resource teachers at school for some ideas. They may want her to wear pull-ups at school, but you should have her in cloth (training) underwear at home. Most children do not like the wetness and they will learn to go to the bathroom because the wetness irritates them. Children also have to have muscle control in that area of the body, which is why it may take a special needs child longer to potty train if their muscles are not toned enough. Another problem is that you may find it difficult to purchase cloth training underwear or pull-ups for the older child. Again, I would speak to your pediatrician and resource teachers about your individual child's needs and helpful hints.

A. D.

I have a son who will be three in November. We just bought the new Elmo's Potty Time DVD and my son loves it!! It is the only thing that he wants to watch -- it is very cute. I also, made a Potty Reward sheet and hung it in the bathroom. Everytime he goes potty like Elmo he gets a sticker and he gets to put it on his reward sheet. He loves Toy Story so I bought a Buzz and Woody for him and placed them up above the TV set where he could see them but not get to them. I told him that when he can wear big boy underwear (use the potty all the time) he can have Buzz and Woody. He wants them pretty bad so he has been using the potty. I also ask him all the time if he needs to go. I think that they need to be reminded sometimes or they will forget while they are playing. Especially right now since they are used to diapers. I hope this helps. So far so good with us.