3 yr old son's obsession with diaper contents

My almost 3 yr old son <he will be 3 in two weeks> has, in the past 3 months, repeatedly opened his diaper after having a bowel movement and has painted his room with the contents. This has been very difficult to deal with. We have tried ignoring the problem, spanking him, being calm with him...nothing seems to be working. He does this at least 4 times a week. We have even started taping his diapers shut, to no avail. He still gets in it. My dr has asked for him to see a child Psychologist. Any thoughts?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Colleen,

If your son is developing normally in all other rerspects, I would not worry about this behavior. Of course, you do need to set reasonable limits. I'd suggest a standard response to this behavior, and a sensible strategy would be to place your son in time out for approximately five minutes or so.

Has your son expressed an interest in using the toilet yet? Have you introduced toilet training? It might make sense to channel his interest in this direction.

Sometimes smearing of feces is a sign of a developing atypical personality, but more often than not the behavior is a transitory phenomenon and will not persist.

[Colleen]

Dear Dr.
  
    We have introduced potty trainging already and he is urinating on the potty all day. The only time he wears a diaper is to go to bed for naps or nighttime.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Colleen,

Good. Keep up your efforts in this regard, and try to be vigilant around monitoring your son when he wakes up. Prevention is the best approach to such behavior.