Potty training (ASD)
Hello again! 
) I wanted to ask you mothers out there who are going through this or have gone through this. How do you guys go about potty training a child with ASD? I'll admit it, my 5 year old is still in diapers at times (I send him to PPCD with pull ups because his teachers are suppose to be helping him go potty) but it's so frustrating because I can not get him to understand to tell me when he is ready to go. If I ask him if he needs to go he will usually say "No mommy" and go off and play. Then when I order him to go, he will go but most likely will have a wet pull up. So he knows how to go to the bathroom, he just never asks me or lets me know. Even when his pull up is wet, he still wont tell me. I just dont know how to go about this. I would love to get him out of diapers and pull ups all together so I no longer have 3 in them, but I'd also like to successfully potty train him so I can know what to somewhat do when I try with my youngest son.
Re: Potty training (ASD)
I'm there with my 3.5 ASD boy right now & I haven't figured it out. I know I have no room for complaints yet b/c we're still not out of the range of 'normal' for the range of potty training, but we basically have the same issues.
We've been withholding very highly rewarding items and encouraging him to go so he can get them, and until yesterday it never worked. For the first time ever - yesterday - he says, "Daddy, can I play wii if I go potty?" and he went. And, when he was done with his game...... he asked again. And he went again. And he played wii again. Im really hoping MAYBE we're onto something. We'll see. I think his 'sensors' for knowing ahead of time are not quite kicked in yet.
Pee = 99% prompted (until yesterday)
Poop = oblivious/won't go in the bathroom in pullups or on the potty, yet acts as if he doesn't like it once he's already gone in his pants.
Dude.
I wrote this EXACT same post about two months ago. I received a lot of great advice on here, as well as from people in a local autism group.
My DD just turned 5 the first week of February and we've been doing pull-ups for two years!
The one difference is that my DD would poop in the potty. I think she was able to sense the urge to go (plus she's VERY regular so it happens around the same time each day) so she was coming to us and saying "potty" when she needed to go poop. I don't think she's pooped in her pants in about 1.5 years (aside from when she has had stomach bugs)
Peeing was a totally different story. We were timing trips to the potty, but there were many times when she would wet herself between the timed intervals.
I finally just said forget the pull ups when she is at home. She goes to pre-school 5 days per week, so this was initally after school and on weekends. It started as us timing her with the potty watch but now she is able to sense when she needs to go and she says "POTTY!"
She really needed to pee her pants and feel the annoying wetness to "get it."
Even her pre-school teacher noticed the change and as of last week, she asked that I just send in underwear except for during the bus ride.
I would suggest that you try getting rid of the pull ups whenever you can.
Good luck!! I really do understand
(((HUGS)))
I am not to this stage yet with my son...but my mom has always said that pull-ups do not help with potty training. They don't let kids feel the effects of peeing in their pants and therefore there is no incentive to pee on the potty. I know ASD kids probably have a harder time with this...but really pull-ups are only for the parents and the easy clean-up. Ultimately, getting rid of the pull-ups could get you to successfully potty train your son the quickest.
Good luck!
We've done it both ways. Peeing himself all day - or the alternative of me dragging him in there over and over didn't work either. So, in our case, pullups are for him too. He can be successful at peeing in the potty because he can get them down where he can't get a diaper down. It is a little different, the connections for the potty muscles/senses/brain functions are just not the same for some kids. We can't feel bad about using pullups. Sometimes, you have to pick your battles.
Back before we got our diagnosis we trained our ds in a week. (100% even overnight). All we did was let him be naked and take him once an hour at first. When he'd go in the potty we made a BIG deal and used a sticker chart. It must have clicked because by the middle of the week he was asking to go. Ofcourse it helped that it was summer time and we could spend a lot of time in our backyard or on our deck. We wrapped the couch in a shower curtain just in case.
Ofcourse now we are back in pull ups for Head Start 5 days a week because we noticed he'd have a few drops in his underwear when he came home and the teachers said he would occasionally refuse to go with them. Strange because at his regular preschool it was never a problem. Good Luck. I'm interested in seeing what other people say.
Thanks for that article Auntie. Not something on my radar.
I am, however, proud to say that Dad took it upon himself to have DS stand up to potty. I was unsure since we introduced it by sitting, but he always stands now & NO TP (which I resisted, but he finally convinced me men don't need it b/c there is no such thing as a TP roll at a urinal).... call me naive.
LOL that is hilarious.
Gabe isn't being pottytrained yet, but I have this book and it really is a great resource:
https://search.barnesandnoble.com/Toilet-Training-for-Individuals-with-Autism-or-Other-Developmental-Issues/Maria-Wheeler/e/9781932565492/?itm=1&USRI=potty+training+autism
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We've tried training DS, so far no real luck. He wears Goodnights b/c he is a big boy (4 ft tall and 65 lbs). I don't know what else to do. We've tried just underwear, naked, or putting pants on so he will feel wet-he doesn't care. He will leave the room when he poops, and I've tried to get him to go to the potty then but he holds it in then or something. I don't know, I try not to worry about it anymore. I joke that I'll be potty training both of my kids at the same time! Haha!
For those of you who have sucessfully potty trained.... did you see all the readiness signs first, or did you go in because it was 'time'?
Breezy, I didn't see any signs of readiness back then...just kind of grasped the opportunity that it was summer time...so the readiness was on my part...:-).