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How do I get a 10 year old boy potty trained?

Kerry - posted on 07/13/2012 ( 1 mom has responded )

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I have a 10 year old boy who has mild PDD-NOS, Sensory and Auditory Processing Disorders,ADHD, and multiple food aversions., He will urinate on the toilet, but he always has a BM in his underwear and he will sit in it until someone notices that he has it. He only wears pull-ups to bed. We have been trying desperately to get him fully trained and we still have not been successful.Since he has alot of food aversions, he does not eat well, but it seems that he tries to monitor what he eats so that he does not have to go to the bathroom. He tries to hold his stool in for as long as he can. We give him Miralax so that he cannot hold it and make himself constipated all the time. Does anyone have any suggestions for what we could try for an older child to get him potty trained?

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Janet - posted on 07/13/2012

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I can imagine how frustrating this is and although it appears to be a sensory issue (he may enjoy the way it feels to have his BM against his skin, or he may abhorr the way it feels to actually have one, which is why he waits so long), I think a good start may be figuring out something that he can push himself towards - something that he wants *more* than the feeling he gets, or avoiding the feeling he gets, due to his BMs.

Have you used any reward systems in the past for him and any other activities or training? I wouldn't encourage using food as a reward since he has issues with it to begin with - but perhaps a favorite game or toy? It *will* be difficult at first if you choose to try it, and you'll want to give in and give him that favorite thing, but don't - until he has his BM in the toilet. Then, give it to him immediately. For instance, if it were me, I'd not let my daughter play her favorite game (Skylanders on the Wii currently) until she had a BM in the toilet - then as soon as she did, we wiped, cleaned our hands, flushed - we could race quickly to the Wii, and have a game together. Then the next day, she can't play again until she has a BM in the toilet.

If this was successful, then I would work up to something bigger, like if she has a BM for 4 days, or a max of 1 accident in her pants or somethign, then she could go to the petstore at the end of the week to look at her favorite animals (as an example).

Anyways, that's my suggestion, but that method doesn't work with everyone, nor would anyone agree with it - however, its how I might try to handle the situation. I would try this for 3 weeks and if I didn't see any progress (even very small progress), then I would look to another method.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

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