Toliet Training

[Sarah L]

Hi, My 4 year son Julian who was diagnosed with ASD and ADHD last year and is still in nappies. This seems to be causing a great deal of discussion between health professionals and schools. Of course I would like to solve this before he starts school in september but my three attempt have ended in disaster. I now have a little boy who does want to come out of nappies and get distressed at any talk or actions that involve nappies.

 

Can anyone help or advise me on what to do next.

Sarah

[Jill]

Sarah

 

I can't offer any advice as I am in exactly the same position - The Boy is 4, still in nappies and also due to start school in September.

 

What I can say tho is that this is NOT unusual for children on the spectrum & the health professionals and schools that are discussing this should know that - don't let them pressure you, your son or make you uncomfortable about it.

 

Best of luck with the toilet training, it is hard isn't it? Esp if your lad is non verbal like mine. We've just started trying (again) with a very gentle approach. Every time we change his nappy we sit him on his seat on the loo - just to get him used to the idea of a toilet and to be comfortable sitting there. We use key words like "wee" and "finish" but we are not pushing it or stressing about it.

 

So far we've had little luck in that he hasn't done a wee or anything on the loo (actually he usually gets off and then wees ) but he IS happy to sit on the loo, not stressed at all & I take that as a positive.

 

BTW I actually put his hand in a jug of warm water last night whilst he was sitting on the loo cos someone told me that would encourage him to wee. It didn't work, but he did find it funny - don't we do some daft things at times?

[Paula]

You can get a book called toilet raining for individuals with autism and related disorders from this web site.I can voouch for the web site as ive used it loads of times to order books either by phone or via the web.

 

http://www.jkp.com/cgi-bin/search/search.c...g&submit=search

 

 

 

Hope it helps it did me when i was in youre position.

Edited April 7, 2006 by Paula

[board]

my daughter 6 is still in nappys at night very had to get her out of them when i sarted her on the pottey it was a nightmare i got 4 boys she is the only girl but one day she saw my little boy standing peeing and copyed him so next time i asked my little boy to sit on the toilet and she copyed him and did a pee and thats how i potty trained my daughter in the day have you got other children that he could watch and lean of all the best jill

[nellie]

Hi Sarah,

 

The following websites give information on toilet training.

 

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=367&a=3366

 

http://www.teacch.com/toilet.htm

 

You can download the relevant pictures from this website.

http://www.do2learn.com/

 

Hope this helps.

 

Nellie xx

[forbsay]

Hi Sarah

 

My son started school last August and we finally got him out of nappies in January of this year (he is now nearly 6) I felt that he was not ready to go out of nappies before then...........

 

Can totally relate to what you are going through - it just takes time. He is still in nappies at night but i will will deal with this when i think he is ready

 

Take care

 

Forbsay

x

[Stephanie]

Just don't be afraid to try it again, even though your previous tries were unsuccessful. My son was out of them just before he turned 4 and I never thought he would be. In the end, I had to dedicate 2 weeks to just taking him to the toilet, sitting him on it with a book, reading to him, singing to him, writing social stories, getting the Potty Time video - everything!! He eventually cracked it much to my disbelief ...! I was so stressed about it all the time, I was afraid to try it, especially with a new cream carpet down!!! I think he knew I was stressed and it made him worse and he began to get upset about it. Also he noticed the other children going to the toilet at playschool and it made him wonder why.

 

Stickers worked, rewards worked, a potty didn't work, pull up nappies didn't work!

 

He went straight on the toilet, with one of those cushioned seats from mothercare and he needed the reassurance of having his feet on the stool as he sat there, rather than having his legs dangling.

 

I made up two very silly songs, one for a wee and one for a poo with actions (yes I am slightly insane) but they worked!

 

Give it a go again, he might not be ready ... but it might make him more ready for the next time you try.

 

We are now in the process of trying to getting to pee standing up but it's not going so well.

[OPooh]

My friend is in exactly the same position - I think she will find these links helpful - thank you

[Sarah L]

Thank you to everyone who added a reply here. The links were helpful. I am looking to use cards to help my get dressed and undressed and will tackle the toileing during summer holiday. I think some of my stress has rubbed off on my son so I am backing off and letting it be. The schools will have to cope. I can not be the first and I won't be the last.

 

Cheers Sarah

[rainbow queen]

hi sarah

 

dont let them make u feel more stressed about getting it sorted as this ends up making u feel worse

 

my son attended play group with nappies on and then moved to another nursery where they didnt like it at all-they put alot pressure on me to sort it out-my son didnt understand the basics of even needing to wee or poo-

in the end i sent him in his underpants knowing full well he would wet them -so i let them deal with it as i had told them he wasnt ready-this went on for months -and it also went on for weeks at home trying to learn him to use loo[i tryed lots of seats and pottys and found a soft seat in mothercare which he liked]

 

he hadnt really mastered it by school time -but he managed -hes still in nappies at night as i dont feel hes at all ready to deal with that[hes 5 in june].

 

they should be aware that its going to take much longer to learn than others.

i also spent weeks in the bathroom with him ,he had lots of other probs too like not even able to master pulling his pants down ,or get on loo ect........

 

if there not aware i would talk to them and explain it all

 

my son now has issues using other folks loos and public ones and still wets himself if he goes into public loos himself -so he still needs alot of help-also i found he was holding his wee /poo in at school for a long time -as it was not simple to him to just use loo -he needs to be told to go ect....

Edited April 21, 2006 by rainbow queen