My three year old daughter has autism and I need to start potty training as I believe she now realizes when she's going. She doesn't mind sitting on the potty if she has books. The few times she has gone on the potty I praise her (a lot) and reward her, but she still just doesn't seem to understand exactly what she did. I will continue what I am doing (I also use a visual aid), but I was curious if an moms out there have any tips I could use?
Contact Autismspeaks.org in your area. They may also have resources for you. Good luck!
My daughter trained and 3.5. Honestly, just when I was about to give up, she did it. It is also easier when she is in school. Witnessing her peers head to the bathroom reinforces the training.
I used the visual aids too. All she did was repeat it to me verbally in sequence. Just keep at it. She will get there.
My NT kid trained at 3. My ASD kid may have done so a little later but has less accidents too.
A lot of repitition. My son is ADHD-ASD and bladder trained at a little over 4. He does not want to go poop in the toilet. I have to put a pull-up on. I still have to remind him to go but he does not have many accidents. That is good that she is sitting on the toilet. Mine would not for more than 10 seconds. So he was very hard to toilet train. How I finally got mine to go consitently was that I told him that he will never get a soda in his life till he uses the potty. He was not even looking at me when I said it. He got up 20 minutes later and used the potty on his own and then asked for a soda from that day forward we never went back to diapers. This is a kid that maybe eliminated twice in the bathnroom before. So sorry I do not have any specific advice, but just my experience. I bought every damn book, gadget, potty seats that you can think of but what it realy required was time, patience, and repitition.
Make sure she understands that this is something she needs to be able to communicate to you. As a mom to a nonverbal autistic 5 year old boy I've found this is a great key. He too sits on the toilet and uses it but after being praised or even given stickers on his chart he still doesn't quite seem to understand he must ask to go. Repetition is key and make sure you're taking her to use the potty regularly. Does she have the motor skills to dress and undress to use the toilet as well as getting on and off herself? These are all things that will be helpful and make toileting easier on you both.
My son was over four before he was potty trained. From my experience I feel it is more frustrating for both parent and child to start before they are ready. Which is much later than a normal child. There were so many things that frustrated him, it just seem counterproductive to add something to it.
So my tip would be if it is getting frustrating back off and try again later.
