toilet training

Kayleen - posted on 05/30/2009

thank you all so much the information u all have provided has been very helpfull ,
I'm also Aussie so we do have alot of serives that i have been looking into and applied for

Wendy - posted on 11/25/2008

My son is 5 and autistic and toilet trained this year.

His interventionists and I planned carefully when we would train him to be as efficient as possible. I chose summertime for this reason.



I let him run around naked from the waist down as much as possible.

Eventually he became aware of what it felt like when the pee came OUT . THAT was a MAJOR step. They don't tend to be very aware of these things, but once he got THAT, it was much easier. He picked up peeing in the toilet or on a tree outside (we're in the country) rather quickly. He got a treat every time he peed or even TRIED to pee. The treats were hung on an advent calender type of set up, right outside the bathroom so he could see them.



I found, in both cases, documenting WHEN he pees/poops naturally, helped. Then getting him to sit at those times....ie when he wakes up....after lunch, whenever I could find a pattern.



Success came easier that way, just by catching him by chance....



Once we got him peeing, we tackled pooping. Again, planned when it would work for everyone. We had a "poop party" the first time he pooped in the toilet. We were ready with the cake and balloons and all of it. Ready to go. Then for 2 days straight my AI's and myself watched him round the clock! (so he couldn't sneak one in when I wasn't looking, being a single mom) We had him sit and "try" every hour or so. (especially around the times he naturally tended to 'go')

The MINUTE he went,the first time, the AI's were ready with the party stuff.

That pretty much did it (this is a Dr.Phil method also.)



He still hates sitting on the toilet. After the initial poop party, i set up a treat bag and he got a treat for going or trying to go. After a while, it was a treat only for GOING cuz he wanted to try all the time to get treats.



Eventually he figured out what it FELT LIKE when the poop was coming and that was it.



Preparation is everything...and then sticking to it like crazy, vigilant, round the clock.



He wore Goodnights at night for a few months, then I just took him off of them. I got a plastic sheet for his bed and had towels and cover-up blankets ready. Took a few nights...of getting up, stripping the sheets, laying down towels, and back to bed....OH and I STOPPED LETTING HIM HAVE ANYTHING TO DRINK (except a few sips of water) after 6 pm. One last pee before bed of course.

Then as soon as he woke up, I'd get him to the toilet.



Took about a week. He has accidents from time to time but mostly has it down. I still limit how much he drinks in the evening.



Good luck!

Kerry - posted on 11/25/2008

Yeah its the aussie male thing to do, leak on the trees/garden/whatever is handy. It can help get them, in the single mum situation, it will help get them the general idea.

Melissa - posted on 11/25/2008

hahahahah that's sooo true!!! My daughter loves using the garden as an alternative toilet. So lady like. Actually, that might be a good way to help toilet train him. Good thinking 99 :)

Kerry - posted on 11/25/2008

Hey mellissa, (aussie too) its great with boys and the summer and australia, we can just tell em to go out the back and piss on a tree, nothing horrendous will bite them or give them a rash. thats a good thing!

Melissa - posted on 11/25/2008

Also, ask your health nurse for any assitstance she may be able to give you. I question mine all the time about my son. There's never anything wrong with asking too many questions :)

Melissa - posted on 11/25/2008

Hi Kayleen, I have 4 children, and my youngest 2 I found hard without the problems of Autism to toilet train them LOL My son Ryleigh, 2, is autistic. Luckily he has just learnt the word *Poos* but he is saying it when he doesn't need to go. It's a very hard thing to do when you don't quite know what they want. You ask and ask again until you're blure in the face, but it doesn't help. I keep taking Ryleigh to the toilet with me, and tell him what i'm doing while i'm there, so he'll hopefull understand that the toilet if for that. The only difference is, I don't stand up to wee. With my eldest son, he started training sitting down to do both. It was alot easier for me to teach him that. As he got the hang of it, it was easier to teach im about the *standing up* part. I am hoping to do more toilet training with Ryleigh of the next few months, as it's summer here (Australia) If he's ready, he's ready. If not, it's no biggy for the time being.

Kerry - posted on 11/25/2008

hello kayleen, first can you tell us which part of toilet training you are having trouble with? is it for pee and no2?
Pee was easier to fix with my son. we put coloured ping pong balls in the toilet and told him to aim at them to see if he could drown them/ this was a lot of fun for him and eventually we had sucess. The balls stay there and are not usually flushed away so that became a fun part of the routine to flush.
With autism when something becomes a pre programed response to the child they can manage to do this automatically. Of course it may be that he just doesnt know when he needs to do it, so if he has an accident you need to calmly walk him to the toilet and say this is where you go when you need to pee, please go to the toilet as soon as you feel the need to pee.
No2 is way harder. As far as my children go they stll have trouble telling when they need to go and usually bolt at the last minute. I found that sending them to daycare centre helped, the routine and then they would place them on a toilet every 2 to 3 hours routinely. Once they got the hang of it they were better at going in the right place and at nearly the right time. perhaps watching over a week and keeping a record of pooh times will help you see a pattern so you can be your son's helper and put him on the potty a few minutes before his regular time, might help.
I consider i was rather lucky that daycare started this one off for me. They will always have accidents usually getting distracted on the way to to toilet, by tv or something that looks entertaining, and forget what they were doing (my son at 21 still forgets).
Be calm and continue loving him, he will respond when he can assimilate the information his body is giving him.