Potty Training HELP!! !!
Our little guy is 3 years 3 months. We have been potty training for a couple of weeks now and he knows when to potty etc the problem is he does it anywhere!! !! And I mean anywhere, outside in the grass, in a laundry basket, on the floor..... And he is proud of it!! ! He will come get me to show me see I went pee or poo in the basket!! ! I praise him for not going pee or poo in his pants but them take him with me to dump the potty in the toilet and then say but pee and poo go in the toilet not the wherever it is he did it!! ! I just am at a complete loss!! !! I have tried social stories, having talks with him, reading stories, watching videos, reading books, I dont know what else to try. I am terrified he will go poo or wee somewhere other than the toilet at school!! !! His teacher caught him squatting the other day and just said oh you know we have a toilet inside we can do that in..... Any ideas would be great!! !! !
My son loved spiderman.... so what we did was got a pack of spiderman stickers, we made a chart and put it on the fridge. Everytime he used the tiolet he got a sticker. After 10 stickers he got to go to the store and pick out a toy. Worked great!! ! used it for a few things. I don't know that this could help but it worked for us...
I have to say, I've never potty trained a child...dogs yes, children no. I do know my mother had a slightly more difficult time potty training my brother than my sister's and I, though by that I just mean, he took a little longer to get the hang of it.
I guess I'd probably just try a combination of the gold star system, and asking him on some schedule if he had to go. I'd have a chart in the bathroom and every time he used the potty, he'd get to put a star on the chart. And then you can tell him how proud you are of him, and how he's such a big boy, if he is not adverse to praise for such things.....the only way my brother would use the toilet when he was that age is if no one said anything about it. If we tried to praise him he'd get embarrassed and angry.
I guess key is, catching him in time to get him into the bathroom.
I wouldn't ever yell at him for going elsewhere though. That probably wouldn't have any positive effect.
We have and still do try the star chart. He is obsessed with Thomas so I have even tried giving him a trains when he uses the potty. He just really doesnt care either way..... ;( And Chronos you are correct I would never yell at him for going elsewhere. Oddly enough I try not to laugh especially when I look over and our 6 month old lab puppy is peeing and my son is pooing in the grass next to him!! !! hahahaha sigh what to do what to do...... I am really trying not to make a big deal out of it. I figure he will eventually get the hang of it.....
My brother was obsessed with Thomas.
Anyway, I would just try to catch him before he does it and keep redirecting him to the toilet....he does have a training potty correct? A lot of children are afraid of the actual toilet. There might be some childrens songs or vidoes out there about using the potty that might sell him on the idea.
Yes he does. That was another issue.Initially he just had a hard plastic seat but he kept saying it hurt him so I switched to a cushioned seat. He started to use it and didn't say it hurt but then just started to use everything else!! ! I will just keep trying to catch him and redirect him. What really bugs me also is his cousin who is NT and 9 months younger is sailing through potty training and of course my inlaws constantly compare them.
could it be an issue of him feeling the urge to go and just dropping his drawers wherever he happens to be? i wonder if he feels unable to hold it in.
our asd son is 4y 10m and is showing zero interest or inclination to potty train =/ our older boys didnt train until they were good and ready, one just before 4 and one just after, and it went quickly and easily. without our youngest, i would be happy if he would just tell us when he already HAS gone, but we cant even get that out of him =)
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Neurotypically confused.
partner to: D - 40 yrs med dx classic autism
mother to 3 sons:
K - 6 yrs med/school dx classic autism
C - 8 yrs NT
N - 15 yrs school dx AS
I have wondered that myself. Also wonder if he can even sense it prior to it coming out. Sometimes he will be so focused on something or doing something and it will just start puddling at his feet. He will look down say oh mommy I'm sorry then just continue playing..... I have been even putting him on the potty every 30minutes for 10 minutes like Sue Larkey suggests on her site.... I know he will get it sorted when he is ready I am just worried that it is a sensory issue. Hence the 30 minutes thing trying to train him to sense what is happening.
i'm going to say this as cautiously as possible, lol...you might be sending the wrong message. you say "it goes in the toilets"and then you put it in the toilets...well, now it is in the toilets. all is well. i didn't do anything wrong, it belongs in the toilets and mummy will put it in there and tell me everything is ok, because that's where it belongs.
See what i mean?
i don't know exactly how you could go about making him understand that HE has to be sitting on the toilets when he goes. my son never did the potty thing, he saw me on the toilets more than once, as toddlers do, and i explained what i was doing. you go in the diaper because you're small, but i'm a big girl so i go in the toilets. He tried it one day, diaper on. i let him do that for a while and then one day he took his own diaper off and did it. ( climbing on the toilets like a little monkey lol, it was really cute)
Try not to flush in his presence too much, maybe the sound freaks him out...
and accentuate the fact that he has to be doing it sitting there, not that his excrements belong in the toilets, since you put them there after he goes in a basket , he thinks that's how it's done.
ediself I really never thought about it that way!! !! Yikes you are probably correct. I will be more clear with him about him sitting on the potty to do it. He does see us go etc and we have discussed it. I will work on that!! ! Thank you for the feedback and change in perspective!! !! !!
our asd son is 4y 10m and is showing zero interest or inclination to potty train =/ our older boys didnt train until they were good and ready, one just before 4 and one just after, and it went quickly and easily. without our youngest, i would be happy if he would just tell us when he already HAS gone, but we cant even get that out of him =)
Our 4yr olds the same. He just wanders around with poo pants, hasn't the slightest interest or worry. I'm not sure what your supposed to do about that, not much can be done until the awareness or interest is there I guess.
We don't use the stand alone potties for the reason of confusion. We use the small, cushy seat toppers for the toilet and a step stool. This also makes clean-up a bit easier. We reserve praise for correct potty usage only and stickers are given out only after the whole routine, including hand washing.
A couple of weeks is not very long so I wouldn't worry so much about it being a work in progress. He'll get there. My son took over a year to train, but I think we just started before he was really ready. He also didn't care about having a mess in his pants. I think it'll be a lot easier with our daughter. She's just sort of practicing now, but she has much more interest in it than my son ever did.
hehe that's where being AS can be of some use: different perspectives
one more thing? number five made me think of something else. you go on the toilets and he sees you go there. he can go wherever, since the potty is a portable device. And it's not the toilets. doesn't even look like toilets. maybe it's time you chuck the potty and start him on toilet training
We got my son a little Slot Machine kid's potty when we started potty training him. He may have used it once or twice. Other than that, he thought it was a toy. My brother's girlfriend's daughter who is 3 loves to use it. She's neurotypical. My son isn't. Maybe that's where the difference is. My son would rather trip out on the flashing lights and ringing bells than actually use the potty. I think keeping it simple is best. Let your son know the potty is not a toy. It serves a purpose. My son wasn't fully potty trained until a little after his fourth birthday. I worked with him for almost a year before he got it. I would stress out and even cry or yell at times, which I don't recommend. It is stressful, but he will get it eventually.
Right now, my son is fully trained, however he has developed this fascination of peeing outside. He will wake up in the morning sometimes and walk outside instead of to the bathroom and go right off the deck. I took him to a little boy's birthday party two months back and he just dropped his pants in the back yard and started to go. I also caught him going on one of our cats recently! That was a little disturbing. And much like your son, he was proud. He came inside and said "Nathan, did you pee on Mr Black?" (he uses a lot of echolaleia, so that's almost exactly what he says). I think all kids have little quirks and issues while potty training. Another thing with my son is that if he has to go "number 2". he strips down completely naked. It's so weird, but funny at the same time.
My advise would be to keep reiterating to your son that he needs to go in the potty. You can try a sort of reqard system like some of the other parents have suggested. In the beginning, we used a spiral notebook that we would let Nathan put a sticker in everytime he used the potty. And I acted overenthusiastic everytime he used the potty correctly. I would clap for him and give him hugs and tell him how good he did. When he would go in his pants, I tried not to get mad (although it did frustrate me pretty badly at times when I felt he knew what he was supposed to do, but chose not to), but I would keep a straight look on my face and tell him something like "Uh-oh. You went potty in your pants. No stickers for you today" and would take him back to the toilet and remind him that is where he is supposed to go.
I know it can be very stressful, but one day your sn will figure it out and it will be such a relief. Just keep working with him and encouraging him. Good luck!
I should have been more specific. What our son has is a cushy insert that goes on the toilet seat. He doesn't use a little plastic potty. He uses the cushion insert because a lot of things "hurt" him. Sitting on the hard plastic toilet seat, if he leans back to rest his head on my sternum when I am holding him, the button on my jeans, etc
Thank you for all of the advice and feedback!! ! It is helpful to know I am not the only one and yes it can be very frustrating!! !! !! Your son sounds too cute though!! !! My ex husband used to strip down to go to the potty as well! hahahaha
Thank you for all of the advice and feedback!! ! It is helpful to know I am not the only one and yes it can be very frustrating!! !! !! Your son sounds too cute though!! !! My ex husband used to strip down to go to the potty as well! hahahaha
lol it took a long time for my son not to strip naked everytime too.....sorry i misunderstood the cushion seat