peeing when he gets out of the bath

Hi, I have a child who is 8- doesnt have Autism but was born prematurely (26 weeks) and thus does display most of the same characteristics. He is not potty trained- were working on it. My issue is, he recently started peeing on us or on the floor when we get him out of the bath. What can we do to help with this? Right now, we have been giving him time out in his time out area on the floor, speaking to him sternly, and making him clean the floor. He seems to laugh at this though- or make fun of it after time out (he hates it, but afterwards). Any other thoughts on what we can do to stop this behavior? Thanks for your help

[Jessica L Thomason Sassi, Ph.D., BCBA-D]

I presume that you have already done so, but you might want to take him to see the pediatrician to rule out any possible medical issues. Although it sounds like more of a mild behavior problem, it’s always best to rule out a medical cause when dealing with incontinence.

Without having an idea of why he’s doing this, it can be tough to make suggestions about how to make him stop.  However, it sounds as though he finds something about the situation funny, so you might try using that to your advantage. Although he might be a little bit big for it, you could put down a potty seat next to the tub, so that as soon as you pull him out, he gets put right onto the potty seat.  If he does urinate in the seat, then provide lots of immediate praise (and maybe a treat). At the same time, provide minimal attention (totally ignore it if you can) to any attempts to urinate outside of the toilet – it may be that whatever attention he is getting from you may be slightly reinforcing as well.  It doesn’t sound as though the time-outs are terribly effective, so you might consider discontinuing them while you are trying some other strategies.  Finally, don’t give up if this doesn’t work immediately – it may take several attempts across several days before you see success.

If you are interested in further pursuing toilet training, there are several books available that provide step-by-step advice on toilet training in developmentally disabled populations (“Toilet training in less than a Day” by Nate Azrin and Richard Foxx is one example) that may provide some useful tips.  

Best of luck to you all.