One of the hardest things I have had to face with my autistic child is potty training. He is ten years old and does not want to go to the bathroom independently. If I tell him to go to the bathroom he will. The problem is, I don't know when he has to use the bathroom. I just periodically tell him. My husband and I have put him on a reward system for potty training. When he wets his pullup, we take away one of his favorite things. When he goes to the bathroom independently, he gets one back.
Right now, he has a lot of his things put away. We remind him continuously to keep his pullup dry. We tell him to remember to use the bathroom and not his pullup. We don't tell him to go to the bathroom and we don't take him to the bathroom. This approach seems to work at times and not at times. When we are away from home, he is really good at "telling" us that he has to go to the bathroom. At home, it seems like he has to have everything taken away before he starts using the bathroom on his own.
We are not giving up. We have been doing this for a week and it seems like he is starting to give in and use the bathroom. He is so stubborn and wants us to tell him to use the bathroom and take him to it. It is my hope that we will be able to get him to the point where we don't even have to remind him to keep his pullup dry. I know it will take time, and am prepared to stick to this plan for the long term. I know my son is smart and that he understands what he is supposed to do. I also believe that he thinks we will give in and let him do what he wants to do. We are not going to give in. I hope that by the time school is out, he will be fully potty trained.
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10 comments:
Thanks for stopping by. Love your post!
Wow that's rough. Good Luck. :D
Bless your heart. I worked with a gentleman whose son has autism. I do know it presents itself quite a few challenges, and I absolutely admire you for all that you are doing to help your son!
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog the other day! Don't you just love SITS?
Keep your head up and best of luck to you!!!
Love,
Taryn
I think you have a great autism site. My cousins 7 year old has autism and faces a lot of challenges. Since diagnosing her and getting her the right tools and medication, she has greatly improved. Now she's a healthy, happy 2nd grader.
Good luck.
I hope the potty trainning gets worked out.
This is a great blog - lots of information.
Hi Tammy,
You have a tough row to hoe with your son.. I have seen a lot of discussions about the problem and I am amazed at what can be done. I forget the gals name.... is it Jenny McCarthy that has an autistic son, anyway she apparently has a book out now that seemed quite helpful..
You probably know all this anyway.
Good luck my dear..
xoxo
((((hugs))))
Maggie
Just dropped in from SITS to say hi...hang in their. You have a very wonderful and informative site. Great work. www.theowens3.blogspot.com
Interesting analysis, Tammy -- I agree. I definitely feel Jenny McCarthy has much more in the way of resources than us regular people who are struggling so I am not sure how "like" any of us "commoners" she really is. That being said, I don't have any great dislike or distrust of what she is doing either. I don't think any advocate for a cause can ever represent all dimensions of people involved with it, but you can't disregard the impact she has made and the awareness she has generated.
All I have to say and thank you for sharing my son is 5 and we have gotten no were on the potting training. He is afraid of the bathroom the sound echos in there more. But thank you for sharing it is nice to know I am not alone.
We are getting ready to "try" potty training again. My son is 5 and has absolutely no interest in going on the potty. He much prefers his diaper. And, on top of that, for some reason he will not peepee in his diaper at school. He holds it ALL DAY. I feel so sorry for him, he just can't tell my why he is holding it, or why he won't go in his diaper. Come Christmas break, we are giving it a go! I hope it works this time! I've got some good tips from his speech therapist.
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