Anyone else's PT'd child with ASD totally weird about the potty?
1. It takes him forever to go #2. He thinks it's fun to get off the potty, run around and come find us, then go back in. We quit sitting there with him because he took soooooooo long and he likes to go during dinner. Thanks, I want to eat.
2. He has to flush, or he melts down. I have no problem with him flushing, if he will DO IT. If for whatever reason he doesn't want potty to be over, he won't flush, so then we do, and he melts down.
IT IS SO ANNOYING. Every good thing he does comes with this irritating baggage. I'm extra irritated because we played #2 (above) this morning at 5:20 AM. He is not doing well at night anymore. I think we have to refuse to take him to the bathroom until we're ready to be up for the day. If he would be normal about the toilet, it would be fine to go one time, but no. Also, yesterday we tried to do his medicine trial with me present and it was way too soon. I took him an hour to comply and we missed our next appointment. It was just a vaccine, but I had everything lined up to handle on my day off, and now this needs to be re-scheduled. Grrrr! Even when I take a day off to take care of yucky stuff, it's not enough.
He is not constipated. This is purely a behavioral issue. Oh look, something I'm supposed to do, so I'm going to be annoying about it.
Impatient people with Type A personalities CANNOT DO THIS!
Re: Irritating potty behavior
I'm sorry- yea, I can relate. DS is 6 and #2 takes for-ev-er. He doesn't get off the potty though, I'd nip that in the bud immediately. And making him go by himself is a good start too- if he isn't being entertained by someone hopefully he'll speed things up. I would tell your DS something like "people don't like to hang out in the potty with other people" and reinforce that the bathroom is a place to do your private business and that's it. DS just likes to take his time I guess, and wiping is a whole ordeal. DH still goes in and "checks" him because DS is afraid he's still dirty (and he's clogged our toilet several times)- this drives me batty that he still does this and I always refuse. He's been on playdates and the parents have mentioned that "DS spent a long time in our bathroom..." Totally mortifying, so I've really tried to clamp down on this behavior as a social issue. Your DS is only 3.5 so you've got time!
The worst is when he decides he has to go as we're on our way out to school in the morning. He's almost been tardy a couple times. Now I remind him of this before he goes in- I'll say "you have 2 minutes or you'll be tardy" and set a timer. The timer does make him anxious, but he'll usually comply. Or I'll tell him he has to wait and use the toilet at school, which he doesn't like for obvious reasons.
We went camping this summer and you would think he would have sped it up in the disgustingly gross vault toilets but nope- he was in there quite a bit.
"He doesn't get off the potty though, I'd nip that in the bud immediately."