Needing help potty training my 7 year old:(
I believe I have tried everything imaginable, but am hoping for something else to try. I have been trying to potty train my 7 year old daughter who has autisim for atleast 4 years. I have done everything from having a set time that we go, to giving a treat when we do succeed, to time out when we have an accident, even just letting her where big girl panties and wetting herself, to just letting her be naked and nothing seems to work. Frustrated and unsure what to do. I have made it my summer goal to get her potty trained by Aug. 22 of this year because that is when school is starting back up but feel that it will not happen again:( Any advise would be most appreciated.
Have you tried observing for a wk or 2 and writing down the times that she goes and then taking her to the toilet at those times? Also, try keeping her on the toilet 10-15 minutes, so that she has a chance to get everything out. Give her something special to occupy her when she's on there. My son has a portable DVD player in the bathroom and gets to watch parts of his fav videos.
Should probably stop the time outs for accidents, I hear that doesn't work, but of course that's just what I hear. Try sitting her on the toilet every fifteen minutes, and cheering every time she does anything in it. Every fifteen minutes can get old, but it works for a lot of children. Good luck!
You know, in "the old days", mothers used to put their child on the potty right after they ate. Its a common time to have to go.. That's the way Mom was trained, that's the way she trained me. We were both "toilet trained" by 15 months. Of course, I"m 46 now, and she's 70... and every time we eat, we have to run to the bathroom... :o) In that respect, I'm not sure how much we are actually potty trained, vs how much our respective mothers were trained to rush us to the toilet, but it worked.
When I trained my kids, I just put the little potty chair in the bathroom. When I went, they would follow me, and after a little while, would sit on their potty when I sat on mine. And after a little while, things came out of them... and when it did, I praised, praised praised. But, this way lets the child be in charge of when he or she is ready.
I don't know if that would help you... I have to confess that while I had "special ed" kids, none were ever diagnosed as autistic. They tested them repeatedly, and knew there was SOMETHING not normal, but nothing that fit in any one catagory so we could get a diagnosis. You don't say, and I don't know how to ask politely how deep the level of autism is... I have always kind of thought of it as if the autistic child has one foot in our regular world, and another somewhere else, somewhere we can't see or go. Do you think your daughter KNOWS when she has to go? If she doesn't, you might be fighting a loosing battle, trying to potty train her.
Have you tried picture cue cards? We just found out my son has autism. He's three. I purchased a book called "Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism or other Developmental Issues" by Maria Wheeler, M.Ed. We have started with picture cues around the house and are easing into it because that is what his special education teacher will be using in school.
She knows because when I had her naked the other day in the house she went and put on a pair of panties and then went pee all over my kitchen floor. When I have asked her to go to the bathroom she says 'no potty' but then turns right around and goes in her pants. She just doesn't want to go into the bathroom to go. I have also asked her at other time to go on the potty and she runs into the bathroom, pulls down her pants and get on the toilet and goes. She knows when she has to go I just don't know why she won't go on the potty. Frustrated is all I can say:(
I have to tell you that the picture cards work! But they work in our house for everything but the bathroom:( She knows how to follow the schedule and routine of them very well, when there is a routine to follow (Like school time), but when there is no set schedule in the summer it is hard for us to use them at the house. But thank you for your input.
I was taking her into the bathroom with a scheduled alarm that went off at the same times every day but now she just covers her ears when the alarm goes off and yells 'turn it off, turn it off". So I have shut off the alarms and am baffled as to what to do next. But thanks.
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- DeeAnnR
on Jun. 24, 2012 at 2:04 PM