I Am In Need Of Some Help Here!!!! - Autism Spectrum Message Board

autismmommy2x · 09-05-2006, 08:24 PM

I am so sick and tired of my life and the way it is going.....it seems the older my children are getting the worse things are getting!!! Its literally scaring me to death!!!! I really need some help on toilet training....my son is 7 almost 8 and he is still messing in his pants.....because he waits til the very single last nano second that he has then makes a run to the bath room......Most of the time he barely makes it.....THEN the real problem that I am balding from, My Daughter Heaven, Shes Nonverbal, and not potty trained.....She literally makes tiny poopies alllllllllllll day long!!!! I've never seen anything like it!!!! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO!!!!! Well its getting late so I need to go, ANY RESPONSE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!! PLEASE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE ON POTTY TRAINING!!!!
THANKS EVERYONE!!!!

sross24 · 09-05-2006, 09:03 PM

I wish I could give you some words of wisdom, but I'm kind of in the same boat. My 6 year old still has accidents. The only thing I found that works with her is reward when she does well. She is very motivated by reward. Not sure if that will help with your son or not.

I really wanted to write though, as I noticed you have two children on the spectrum. I have four kids, three of whom are on the spectrum. My 7 year old daughter has PDD-NOS, my 6 year old daughter has PDD-NOS, and my almost 2 year old son has PDD-NOS. I also have a three year old neurotypical daughter. My two older kids are high functioning, but my 2 year old son is still non-verbal. He is making progress with therapy, but I don't know how far he will come.

I would love to hear more about your family. I noticed you are new to this board, and I think you will find everyone here to be very supportive. Everyone here has been a great support to me.

How old is your daughter? Do you have any other children? And at what age were your children diagnosed?

-Steph

elmhar · 09-06-2006, 09:25 AM

Hi there, AM2X,

There are 2 sorts of approaches you could try, (or a combination) IME.

The first is a behavioristic-training approach. If you aren't making headway on your own with informal at-home potty training, some guidance from a pro who's worked w/toilet issues in the autistic population could be a great help.

The second approach is to find a DAN! type doc & work on gut issues if your inclination is to get involved in the biomed approach and/or if you think there is maybe something physical that's contributing to the potty problems.

In the meantime, make sure your kids know how very pleased you are when the BMs do happen to make it into the potty. The rewards Stephanie mentioned can be very helpful. Find a special reward that's only given for potty success. It may be different for each child -- could be something like a gummy bear, or access to 20 min. of a special Nintendo game -- but if a kid gets candy & Nintendo all day long, such a reward has less power. It's also very helpful to make sure the kids see each other's rewards. Even your nonverbal daughter may understand at some level that her sib is getting something special.

Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism and Related Disorders by Maria Wheeler is a book that some parents have read to great advantage. It contains over 200 tips, plus it has over 60 "case histories" of toilet-training autistic kids. I would suggest checking with your local public library. If they don't have the book, the information/reference desk may be able to obtain it for you from another library through a service called interlibrary loan. Of course, you could always check bookstores for the title or order it off the net.

Best wishes.

Willstrideryder · 09-06-2006, 09:00 PM

We are in the same boat--sinking in crap--all day long! I know how frustrating it is. I have not found anything that works except one thing: We threatened (I know that's bad) that he will have to go get "cleaned out" at the hospital again. He hates that so even though he'll tantrum he'll march into the bathroom and go. 80% of the time it is too late. We've taken him to a GI specialist and we are doing a conservative "clean out" with Mirilax and Ex-lax. If this doesn't help, we will have to take him to the hospital to get cleaned out agressively. We've tried a treasure toy box that he can choose a toy from, but that only worked for a couple of weeks. Sometimes rewarding him with food helps. But I can't help but think that food is part of the reason he has to have a BM. If only that wasn't part of the human process.

His zinc levels are a little low, too. Our boy is also 7 years old. It's tough! I wish you the best of luck. Thank goodness for flushable wipes!!!!