Parents of Autistic Children, advice?

Question

I'm trying to potty train my 4 year old autistic grandson and he hates the feel of underwear! He wants pull ups, but I don't think that helps him to feel uncomfortable when he pees. Any advice? He knows what the potty is for, and will generally pee into it if I set him on it on regular intervals, but he won't tell me he has to go. He is starting to dislike diapers, but doesn't want underwear, he wants pull ups. Also, he doesn't p**p in the potty. If anyone has tips or tricks I'd love to hear them. He's getting very big for diapers and we're going to start having to buy the special sizes soon if I don't get him potty trained.

Answer 1

Persevere he will get used to the underwear! Remove all other alternatives. Use a motivator ......underwear then  reward him with whatever you feel appropriate. Make it very visual, have the reward in front of him if possible. Sorry, I am not a parent but I have potty trained approximately 40 children with varying degrees of autism.

Answer 2

Children with Autism, often have sensory issues as well as social issues.  It is not unusual to find a child with Autism that will go at regular intervals, but not tell you they need to go...hence the social aspect.  I would recommend that you work out some sort of reinforcement for your grandson.  

I would start this way:

1.  When he is going potty.  Tell him, if you need to go tell grandma and we will take you.  Tell him, his words are:  "I need to go potty."  Often children with this disability have a lack in vocabulary and may not know the appropriate words to use.  Practice with him: "I need to go potty"  or even just a simple word such as "potty."

2.  Start rewarding for the use of language.  If he says it, give him a sticker on a "Words Chart" and take him to the bathroom.  Be sure to tell him, you earned a sticker for telling grandma you needed to go potty.  After all the first focus is the use of language, not the actual use of the bathroom.  Once you feel he is consistent on the use of the word(s).  Start rewarding for the actual action.

Remember, you need to help him relate potty to using the bathroom, so make sure to take him in the bathroom whenever he says the word and have him try to use the toilet.  Make a VERY BIG DEAL when he says and uses the bathroom.  Children like the excitement!

Answer 3

Let him use the bath room when a man is using it so he can learn to do it that way. Encourage him to use it every 20mins or less so he will get into the habit. when he is home an not going anywhere put on underwear on him no diapers and send him to school with underwears so he will get accustom to the feel of it. sometimes they would not tell you but their body language shows you so continue to take him and eventullay he will do it for himself keep encouraging him thats a big boy you did again by yourself

Answer 4

potty training aaahhhhhhh!!!

my first son (6) has autism and adhd. he is still in pull ups throughout the day and night. we tried every trick, motivation, routine and bribe that we could think.

in the end,  time and patience won the day. although he still wears pull ups (mainly because of his very short concentration span, an lack of ability to communicate) he will now poo and wee on the loo if you ask him too.  this took time to achieve and was mostly us having to monitor when he had bowl movements.



our youngest son (3) is also autistic but higher functioning. he is coming out of nappies now. he,  like your grandson hates underwear.   in the UK they do pull ups, by pampers, that let the child feel the wetness. this for him seems to be working. again it's a slow process and very time consuming.

my advice would be based on one word patience. everything an autistic child achieves (whatever their level) is controlled by routine. stick with it. i know it's hard but try not to think too much about time limits. when he's ready he will.  my eldest has quite sever autism and if anyone had told me, when he was 4, that by the age of 6 he'd be using the loo I'd never believed them.

good luck X

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Answer 5

hi. i hate to tell you this but he could be in diapers for a long time. i have a daughter with severe autism and it took 6 years. we had to start and stop.

i know of kids that are still in diapers into adulthood.

go to www.autismspeaks.org where they have combined about ten other  major autism groups under one place. if you cannot find help there it does not exist! i run an online supporr group for this as my   dd is 22 years old.

is he in EI if not he should be at school and they can try to write that in the IEP at school I did.

Answer 6

yup, the key is persevere and patience.

i have a soon-to-be 5 year old autistic son, who has been potty trained since early this year.

It took him about a month to learn to pee in the loo, about 2-3 months to learn how to control his bladder and about 7-8 months to do the big 'poo' in the toilet.

he does not say nor signal whenever he needs to answer the nature's call.  what he'll do is simply go to the toilet and pull off his pants by himself and after flushing, he'll wait until somebody notices that he's in the loo....

stick to your routine.....and be prepared for all the minor and major 'accidents'...hehe....

even after nearly a year of potty training, my kid do have 'accidents' every now and then.....he is still in diaper whenever we travel and when he sleeps....i'm still figuring how to teach him to at least give a signal whenever he needs to use the toilet.

wish you luck...

Answer 7

We had to let our son, who was almost 5 at the time, run around for a day with no pants on at all.  No underwear, no jeans, nothing.  The first time he had to pee he didn't know what to do and went on the floor.  The second time he came running to me and I ran him to the toilet.  He went without a fight.  Once he went we let him put underwear on.   I also let him pick out his own underwear, he thought that was pretty cool.  Spiderman, Spongebob, etc.  It was harder to get him to p**p on the toilet, it took about another 6 months.  I was just glad to get him on the toilet at all, so we didn't make too big of a deal of it.  The day he finally pooped on the toilet we had a PARTY!!!  He is now almost 7 and STILL sits to go, but hey, at least he is going.  I have to pick my battles.  

Good Luck!  Enjoy the little miracles with your grandson!!   Bless You for all you do for him!