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POTTY TRAINING FOR AUTISM

HI I NEED HELP TO TRAIN MY 3 .8 YEAROLD SON TO USE THE BATHROOM I JUST BOUGHT A BOOK ON TOILET TRAING FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN .. NOT REALLY MUCH HELP I CANNOT GET HIM TO GO HE WILL GO IN THE BATROOM  FOR A SECOND I REALLY WANT HIM TRAINED BY HIS 4TH BDAY HE IS AT SCHOOL ALL DAY AND THAT IS PRETTY TOUGH IN THE MORNING BUT HE DOES STAY DRY ALLNIGHT  ANY SUGGESTIONS?
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Avatar universal
Hi,
  Another thing that helps to decide weather something is appropriate or not for an autistic child is ask yourself. If what I'm doing would be appropriate for a 14 year old or 20 year old. So If your letting your 4 year old potty train outside , just picture a 14 year old girl outside in her underware peeing. Autistic people have wonderful memories and in their mind they stay young . She may take her clothes off outside because you let her before and trying to undo that is almost immpossible.
     We went on vacation in Florida 2 years ago and because I let him go in the hot tub in the backyard with a privacy fence without his swimming trunks once! He pulled his trunks off at the pool at our hotel in front of everyone and stood at the edge for all to see.
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Avatar universal
Hi ,
   My autistic son is now 24. What I did was take him into the bathroom every 45 minutes and pour warm water over his private parts to make him go to show him how that works. #2 was harder. Even if your child acts like he doesn't know what's going on explain it anyway. For example I had to physically show him that the diapers were going in the garbage and that he was now wearing boys underware. Try to have plastic furniture only he can use and keep his t.v. chair and his favorite things near the bathroom. Usually after they eat a meal 20 minutes after I would put him on the toilet and page through a magazine with him or play his musical toy when he was on the toilet and keep that toy just for toilet time so he makes the connection that he'll see that magazine or play with that toy during that time and say something pertaining to going to the toilet while he's on the toilet like" Go bathroom"?  Just remember if you say potty and he connects with that, he might be 13 years old and only knows what potty is. If your out somewhere in public and ask a 13 year old if he needs to go potty. You'll get some looks.
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325405 tn?1262290178
The warm weather should be coming soon.  I've heard that for some parents, they put their kids in underwear and make them go outside and wait for them to go, so they know what the sensation is like.  Then they keep asking them if they need to go.  Not sure if it would work for an autistic child, but I'm sure if he doesn't like the sensation, it might give him some encouragement.  My niece wasn't potty trained until she turned 4, just at her 4th birthday.  She's not autistic. But she had issues with not wanting to be trained and some issues with bladder control. One of her other daughters had to get bribed with M&Ms and that worked for awhile.  I personally don't think food bribing is a great idea, but if you're desperate, some parents are successful using that technique.  My other sister had difficulty potty training her older son.  She ended up buying 2 potty chairs and found out he wanted to go in the big toilet instead, except he wouldn't communicate what he wanted except whining about not sitting on his little chair.  

I have not been through potty training yet with my daughter, but she's learning that the toilet only gets flushed when you go and I let her flush after I go.  I've also bought a potty chair for her, and she'll sit on it with her clothes on and pretend to poop and giggle.  Except I havent' been able to get her to sit on it when she actually does need to.  She'd rather hide in a corner.  She also doesn't speak or understand much, so I am not sure she understands what I'm telling her.  I have to learn the sign language for it or something.  Does your son use sign language or is he verbal?

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Avatar universal
Can you provide any more information?  For instance, how are his other self-help skills?  Is he able to dress and undress himself?  Do you think that he has the gross motor skills to get through all of the steps of toileting independently?  

You mentioned that "he will go in the bathroom for a second".  What do you mean by that, will he sit on the toilet for a second?  Does he resist sitting on the toilet?  

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