Is there a good method to potty train an autistic child? Any book or video recommendations?

Question

Unfortunately, pediatricians do not know anything about Autism, so they're not much help here

Answer 1

I started out by buying a simple white potty that looked the closest to a regular toilet. No bells n' whistles. Then I got her the "Feel N Learn" pull-ups which are great because when they are wet, they feel wet to the child. Then we had a "sticker" program. I would put her potty in front of the toilet and we would both go potty together. Every time she was successful, she got a sticker that she placed on the bathroom cupboard beside her potty chair. That way she was able to see the rewards of her efforts. And I also made a big effort to praise her really dramatically! Then we'd both empty her potty into the toilet and wave and say "bye-bye peepees/poopoos, thanks for coming out!" She'd sometimes just sit on the chair and "pretend" to potty just so she'd get a sticker! But she quickly figured out that she needed to produce visible results... It took about 2 months. Then I took her shopping and let her pick out her own underwear (Dora). She was so happy to wear them and very, very proud. She had a few accidents but I never made a big deal out of them to her. It got tricky when we went out because it's important that as soon as said she had to potty, we had to pull over right away. I was sure NOT to fall back on the pullups just because we were out. It just prolongs the process. She was able to wear underwear during the day and a pullup at night. Then, eventually she lost the nightime pullup and I woke her at 2am and took her to the potty - every night for about a week. And then that was that.

Every child is different tho - the key is to make a big fuss when they go and not make a fuss if they don't. Good luck with it.

Answer 2

I do not know if will be of much help or not but I will surely try. I teach at a daycare and have an autistic little girl in my classroom. She is 4 years old and mom doesn't want her potty trained but dad does. All I need is consent from one parent to start work in with her so I have. Well she had moderate autism (different levels can be different in progress as I'm sure you know) I have been working with her almost a year now, and she is wearing underwear with maybe only 2 changes a day. All I do is take her to the restroom every 30min or so and sit her on the potty. (For the other children it is every hour.) I have also taught her the sign language for bathroom since she does not talk yet. She has finally caught on and can usually sign to me that she has to go. Sometimes she tells me after she has already went but mostly that is only when playing, like any other potty training. Every morning when she comes in we read the book potty training for girls with the flush sounds. She really likes it. I don't really have any special tricks but it just takes alot of patience. I really hope it works or at least gives you a starting point. Good Luck.

Answer 3

I used to work in an ABA program for children with autism, and we potty trained the kids all the time. Here's what we did. It's time consuming, and you really have to dedicate a week to it.

First of all we increased the liquids so that the child would have to go more often. We had them wear underwear, no diaper, and no shorts.

Every 10 minutes we would take them into the bathroom and have them sit on the potty. We'd give them 3 minutes on the potty. We'd sit with them and talk about going potty, what the potty is for, etc.. even if they were not able to understand it. After the 3 minutes if they did not go, we would wash their hands, just to get them into the habit of doing so, and take them back out to play.

We would do this every 10 minutes, and eventually they would go, even by accident on the potty. When the child would go we would have a "potty party" give lots of praise and give a reward that the child really liked. (The reward needs to be only used for going potty during this week to keep it effective).

The point of the underwear is so you can catch them when they are going, or right afterwards. You immediately take them and sit them on the potty. If you're able to get the last few drops in the potty, still have the potty party. If you totally miss it, just change them and dont be negative about it at all.

It also really helps if you use a timer that goes off every 10 minutes. When it goes off you say "Time for potty". I dont know where your child is at developmentally, but if he's verbal, then try getting him to say this with you, so that eventually he'll say it on his own. If he's not verbal, maybe use the PECS system with this (where there 's a picture of the potty, and when the timer goes off he grabs the picture and takes it into the bathroom) so that when he's trained he'll do this to alert you he needs to go.

Good luck on this. It's time consuming at first, but it really does work.

Answer 4

Our now 11-year-old is autistic. He had an issue with the fact that different toilets had different colors or seats to them. To help him with this, we cut stars out of tissue paper that we could toss into the toilet bowl before he used the facilities. This worked quite well for us as it took his concentration off the seats and colors and allowed him to focus on the star floating in the water.

As far as I know, there aren't any books or videos which address potty training an autistic child. I find that it's more trial and error and you'll soon find something that works for you and your child. Good luck!

Answer 5

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Answer 6

wait till they are ready and understand what the potty is for..just dont wait till they are to old just make sure they understand what the potty is used for and you have to use it everytime because they are use to just going you have to understand its diffrent for them so dont get mad or upset if they go on them selfs and use pull ups at night for maybe even the first year.. and my daughter now loves to go to the potty.. buy your child some underwear they will love to put on tell them they can only wear them if they use the potty reward them for a while everytime they go give them money or something they like.. hope i could help

Answer 7

you've gotten some large solutions. yet another theory tyo strengthen the sensory enter and help the youngster understand they prefer to pass is to placed on underpants less than the pullup. It does propose extra laundry, yet does strengthen their understanding. this could also be sensible for the bus journey abode from college, once you won't be able to take them each and every quarter-hour. If the youngster is severe functioning sufficient to be "into" large heros, and so on... you should get them personality underpants and then make a huge deal, "Oh no! you obtain your spidy underpants all moist!" you also substances your toddler some factor of administration contained in the approach by permitting them to flush the bathroom, placed a decal on a action picture star chart, and so on... solid success.

Answer 8

a child w/autism will be potty trained when ready. It could take 7 years but they'll get it. I know it is frusturating but they'll get it, don't push it. Contact dr. roxy szeftel at cedars sainai medical center for suggestions and reasorces. She is a guru on child autism. [e-mail]

Answer 9

I would ask your pediatrician. Maybe some occupational therapy may help??