My 3 y/o has recently received an educational diagnosis of autism. He's on the waiting list to get a medical diagnosis, but that won't happen until the end of the summer at the earliest.

He is beginning to use some language, and can indicate when is diaper is wet or dirty. He can follow simple directions. He is holding his bladder for HOURS and then releasing it all at once (often causing a massive leak and a clothing change). This all tells me that PHYSICALLY he is ready to potty train.

However, he is afraid of the bathroom and he hates to be naked. He will NOT sit naked on any potty (the little ones or the grown up ones). In the bathroom, he won't even sit clothed on the big potty (we bought an insert so he won't fall in). Bathing and brushing teeth are both issues because he doesn't like to be in there.

Has anyone had success in training your child to use the toilet? What did you do?

I'm willing to work hard, and it seems to me this summer would be a great time to do it, but everything I'm trying seems to not be working.

I set up his training potty in front of the TV. Maybe that would work for you since he is afraid of the bathroom

Well, I know how you feel. My dd just turned 4 and we still do not have her trained yet. In fact, I posted this exact same question myself this time last year here, lol! We have tried everything thinkable and she still is unable to make the connection. Altho, she has made the transition from diapers to pull-ups and will occasionally go before getting in the bath/shower if she is naked. So, my plans are to get her trained this summer by the "letting her be naked from the waist down" method, lol! We will see.
I am no help for you, but just wanted to let you know to hang in there, it'll happen one day.
Oh, and BTW, her developemental preschool teachers didn't think it was any big deal that she wasn't trained yet. They told me not to push her as it would create an anxiety issue for her towards going in the potty. :nono:

Just wondering if you've tried the GFCF diet. My son couldn't tell he had to go until after he was casein free for a week.

I think GFCF is a very good suggestion, but my son was never on it, though I think it would help (we did eliminate whole milk as a drink due to gastric reasons), but he is 7 and potty trained, but still "hates" bathrooms. He was born and potty trained in one house, but always had problems at school, the therapy office, public restrooms, other family members homes, etc... I had to drag him in and make him sit (usually causing quite a scene) but if he really needed to go, he would. At home he likes to take off all his clothes to go "#2", but will stand to pee. At school he hated the "auto flush" toilet, so the teacher covered the sensor to disable it. I think alot of it is the "echo" in bathrooms. When he was 4 we moved to a new house and I had to drag him into the bathroom for about a week before he would go on his own. Strangely, he loves the bathtub and would close his eyes past the toilet to get to the tub! It's crazy, but he eventually got over it. He even spent a few months drawing pictures of "pottys" that he had seen (he loves to draw). I think that you really have to "tough it out" and they will overcome alot of their "phobias". Good Luck.

I don't know what to do about the naked part, but when ever Eleanor is afraid of something we casually leave it lying around the house and let her approach it on her own. I would take the potty seat out of the bathroom and put it in the room he spends the most time in. Give him time to approach and investigate before you ask him to sit on it.

As for potty training - E is 4 and she just doesn't care whether she's wet or not. She knows what the potty is for, will occasionally ask for it, but really doesn't care. We've tried all types of rewards, tried letting her stay in her wet pants, etc. Nothing works. Just today I put Nemo underwear on her and told her to keep Nemo dry. Well she kept him dry - but she pooped on him instead.

You just described how my son was before the diet. He would sometimes use the potty but most times would sit in pee or poop without complaint. After one week on the diet he started to go fairly regularly on the potty. After 1 day on NDF plus he stayed dry thru the night and completely potty trained in the next week. He will be 4 in October. Best of luck in whatever you try!

I look forward to reading more suggestions. My pdd nos son is 4 1/2 and would gladly sit in a dirty diaper for hours. He won't go to sleep in one, so he does have some awareness. As far as interest, he did show some when he started watching "Potty Time" a short live action video with a party as the backdrop to the kids exiting to go to the potty. But then the interest evaporated. Maybe I wasn't pushy enough? The teachers at preschool would take him and he'd assume the position, but no product.

Your local library will have some videos which are certainly worth a try. We have 5 different cute potty books and they also drum up a little interest. Also, I used to give him chocolate covered raisins (the healthiest candy I could think of) as a reward for trying, but then his little brother started repeatedly going into the john going Candy? Candy? It became the sweetshop instead of the loo. Good luck, girl!

Thanks everyone.

I did read "A Work in Progress," which suggested NOT using a potty chair b/c you want them not to associate going potty ONLY on the chair; you want them to go ONLY on a toilet. So am I reading right in that some of you were successful in starting your kids with autism on a potty chair and then moving them to a toilet?

We haven't tried (or considered, really) the GFCF diet, mostly b/c we are still waiting for the medical diagnosis. Once we have a firm grasp on just where he is at on the spectrum we will probably look into it.

We have TONS of potty book s and the "Potty Time" video. None of them have been super successful in getting his interest. If I knew more about "social stories" I might try there.

What is NDF plus? A supplement?

NDF Plus is a natural chelator.

Yes, we had success with the potty chair. My son was potty trained at 2 and a half. I did not push him to use the toilet until he was ready. After using the potty chair for a couple of weeks he decided on his own that he did not want to use his potty chair anymore and used the toilet.

My son turned 6 a couple of months ago and has been standing up to use the potty for a couple of years, but will NOT go #2 in the potty. I know he doesn't like to have poop in his pants because he'll ask us to change his pants after he's already gone in them. We can sit him on the potty for an hour and he won't go, but as soon as we let him get off and put his pants back on, he poops in his pants. It's so extremely frustrating! I read about some of you making your children run around the house with no underwear, but I think it would be a little strange to have a 6-year old run around with no underwear on. Besides, I'm not really thrilled about having to clean poop out of the carpet! I'm so worried about what's going to happen when he starts 1st grade in the fall. This past year he only attended Kindergarten for a half day and he wouldn't even use the potty to urinate - he'd hold it. There's no way he's going to be able to hold it all day in 1st grade! So now we're under this tremendous pressure to have him completely trained by August AND to convince him that it's okay to go to the bathroom at school.
On top of everything else, my younger son just turned 3 and we're trying to potty train him with no luck - I'm starting to wonder if the day will ever come when I don't have to buy Pull-Ups anymore!

I reposted my potty training thread to see if it would help.