I have a 6 year old non-verbal autistic little girl named Emily we have been trying to potty train her for several years. She actually started to do at the beginning of the school year this year and this just absolutly stopped. Now she refuses to do it at all at home and only does it some times at school. Has anyone potty trained a child with autism. Emily has a habit of refusing to do anything if she thinks we like it. Like, last summer I had her signing until she figured out that I was excited about it and then she completely stopped and now if you try and sign to her she will hit your hands she does this at school to. She knows the signs on occasion when she really wants something and cannot get it across any other way she will sign to me. I have a really stubborn child. Of course so are my other two children.
Thank You for all the responses. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out. Your advice has been very helpful.
Thanks
H.
Have you looked into the Son Rise program? I recently saw it on the Discovery Health channel, and went to their website to learn more. It's for autistic children of all ages. Although they may not address this behavior specifically, what they teach should help you in dealing with this. Good luck!
http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/index.php
IT might not be that she is doing this because you like it, but because she responds negatively to that level of attention. She may misinterpret excitement. The thing about autistics is that our brains interpret things differently then other people's brains do and therefore we react differently then what others expect us to do.
I am autistic and have four children on the spectrum- the first AS from the beginning, the second two seemed 'normal' until 13/14 months and then regressed, and the fourth, age one now, has the aspie personality. She was very ill with her 4 and 6 month shots so she is not having her 1 year shots right now, hopefully she won't regress like her sisters did.
Autistic children are extremely hard to potty train, what you are experiencing is very normal. I started potty training my girls at 22 months or so and yet the first was not potty trained until age 4, The second is 4 and is still not fully trained, the third is 3 and not fully trained, and then of course the fourth is just a baby.
There's a book on potty training autistics, you might want to look that up on Amazon. Someone else posted to me on potty training ABA style, hopefully she'll write to you on it.
Could school have something to do with her regression? I know that for me, school was full of confusion and excessive stimuli, and I even peed in the chair a few times in kindergarten and first grade- soooo embarrassing when I think of it now, but I don't think I felt that way then! Elimination is necessary and I can't tell when I need to go to the bathroom until RIGHT THEN and can't control it, so it's not surprising I peed in the chair. At home I went to the bathroom when I felt I needed to, at school I could only go at certain times. When my mom started homeschooling me in fourth grade things got a lot better.
Feel free to pm me.
S., mom to four sweet little 'high spirited' girls!
I am a Special Ed. teaching assistant.I have worked with children with Autism on potty training. I have found that you need to find something that they want to work for. Since your child is not interested in pleasing you find out what pleases her ie: Watching a favorite show ,playing a video game, listening to music. I had a student who liked all these things and sometimes she would just want a " smarties" candy.
Has your school ever suggested getting a communication devise for her? Communication is the key to helping these children. They get so frustrated when they can't exspress themselves.
~ Tess
I am currently reading t5he book: Autism heroes : portraits of families meeting the challenge / Barbara Firestone ; photography by Joe Buissink. WIth that said does Emily respond to treats like M&Ms, Cheerios... I'm not familiar on food restrictions on Autism children ie chocolate, wheat, etc. When Emily does utilize the toliet you could give her a treat.
You are truly a blessed person H.. Hang in there.
I teach autistic children, but have never potty trained one. Both of my girls responded well to a jar full of m and m's. They could choose two m and m's every time they used the restroom. If there is something she really likes, such as skittles or something else, just try a little bribe. Buy some pretty underwear that she likes for an incentive. Good luck.
I am a speech therapist, and although I haven't been the one to do the work required to train the children I work with, I know a consistent time schedule (i.e., every thirty minutes), social stories (Visual stories that are very direct about the action desired with minimal or no statements about what is not desired (by Carol Gray), visual schedules, smaller potties or step stools, a potty ring is helpful if they are unstable and fearful of full size toilet, a favorite book reserved for that time only, are many of the ways needed to get children with disabilities to potty train. Sometimes one and sometimes a combination of things. The key is consistency and persistence.
As for the refusal to communicate, you need to play "dumb" and not figure out what she wants until she uses an acceptable form of communication attempt. Remember if you give in just once to tantrums, frequently you just reinforce tantruming and each time it will be on a grander scale.
God Bless and good luck
Hi H.,
I have a daughter that's PDD-NOS, and we didnt' get her trained until her 4th birthday. We seriously just thought she was stuborn, not autistic! She didnt' get her dignosis until 5.
Anyway, what we had her do was TRAIN HER DOLLY! Seriously, she didn't want to be told what to do, but once we started training her dolly, things just became a party. We found a doll that we could fill with water, and once an hour, we'd check her to see if she was dry, then put her on the potty, (squeeze the dolls tummy-made her "go") and we through confetti each time she went. It was so much fun, that after a while, our daughter wanted to be the one to go.
One other thing we had her do was offer a big girl incentive. She wanted to be in a tap dancing class. (she was hypo-sensative-which made potty training hard...and now it makes since why the tap class was fun for her b/c she actually could hear it) So, I went to the resale shop, bought a pair of gently used tap shoes and some big girl underwear. I told her big girls couldn't wear a pull-up to tap class, and once she had the potty thing down, I'd get her registered into the class. I've got the cutest pictures of her in her training underware & just socks & tap shoes on!
Hang in there girl, she'll come around...
S.-mom of two on the spectrum
I have a seven year old non-verbal daughter with autism. There is an intensive potty training procedure by Foxx and Azrin that you could probably find online. My husband and I started a learning center for children with autism and one of our student's reminds me of what you have described. These kiddos are very smart! As far as the signing goes, since you know that she will sign if she can't get what she wants any other way, then that should become her new requirement. Never give in to other behaviors, just ignore them, even walk away, if you have too. Then, if she signs for an item, give it to her immediately. It's not easy and most likely behaviors can get worse before they get better because she might pull out all the stops to see how you respond. Good luck.
Hi H.,
I don't have any advice as I am going through the same thing right now. I have a 5 year old son who has speech and other delays (will be tested next month, not diagnosed as of yet)and refuses to go potty. He has gone in the past a few times, so we know he knows how to do it, but just does not show any interest in it. I guess I just wanted to let you know you are definately not alone on this! I wish you luck and will let you know if and when something works on our end.
Sincerely,
N.
i would just advice to keep on keeping on. my children are all 3 very stubborn and you just gotta keep introducing things until they independently get it. good luck. you seen to be on the right track!
God bless!
D. Mattern-Muck
The MOM Team
Raise your income and your rugrats at the same time!
www.formyrugrats.com
"The only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself through love." Galatians 5:6
