The life of a child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their parents is always focused on finding better ways and channels of communication. It is difficult for children with ASD to express their wants and needs, so anything you try to teach your child needs specific strategies, extra teaching, and more time. This includes basic concepts such as potty training.
Some children without disorders can be ready for potty training at as early as 18 months to 2 years, but many children will not be ready until their 3rd birthday. The average age for ASD children is around 3.3 years compared to children with other disorders who can start at around the 2.5 years mark.
True, there is no big rush, but you don’t want to keep your child in diapers too long. This can have negative physical effects like reduced bladder control later on, or it could lead to low self-esteem and decreased confidence. With this in mind, it is helpful to know a few tricks that you can use to make this process easier for you and your child.
Break it Down
Toilet training is a big process for young ones. It can be overwhelming to just suddenly set your kid on the potty if they’ve never even seen a potty before. Break the process down into small steps so a child doesn’t get confused and anxious and refuses to cooperate completely.
The whole idea of toilet training breaks the routine that ASD children tend to prefer. Some parents may skip the step of the potty and go straight to the toilet, bypassing one of the steps and that can make it easier. As an example, let your kid hear the noise of a flush so it doesn’t scare them or let them fiddle with the toilet paper and let them sit on a potty just a few minutes every day before you start training. Stick to the same schedule and make the bathroom a happy place to go to.
Because there is a lack of verbal communication, don’t expect your child to know and tell you when they need the toilet. This is where visual aids come in.
Visual Aids
Consider this potty training mission a journey, just like travel. Take pictures of the items in your bathroom or find online pictures of the process of toilet training. Separate those pictures in the right order; i.e removing clothes, sitting on the potty, etc. Then, label each picture so that it becomes known to be the toilet journey or routine. Visual aids don’t mean omitting language. Teach your child words related to this process; potty or I need potty are types of short sentences that the child can begin to identify on the potty training journey. Stick to one word so you don’t confuse them; either call it a potty or toilet, but interchanging words can make it more difficult.
This is still all part of the planning stage. It pays to look for online guides that can further help you along the way. When you click here, you will find several other essentials and more phrases that will help you prepare your child. For instance, you will want to create a toilet schedule to use with your child and have items in the bathroom that will make them comfortable on the potty. Be sure to also always have extra underwear on hand. The child needs to be put in clean underwear so they will notice when they wet themselves.
Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is crucial for all children and especially autistic ones. Reinforcement always comes immediately after a task has been done correctly by the child, not before. Giving a treat to your child before a task is a type of bribery and sends out the wrong message. Try to make the reinforcements you use related only to the potty experience. In other words, don’t use the same treats for post-potty actions as you use for other tasks.
Teach Your Child Non-verbal Communication
It’s not easy to get an ASD child to tell you they need the bathroom, but that’s not a sign to give up altogether. You might find that they can give you non-verbal signs that you taught them, like pointing to the potty, for example. The pictures of the potty process can be very helpful and they could begin to correlate the time they need to use the bathroom with one of the pictures.
No one ever said it was going to be easy; you will have to muster up a lot of patience when teaching your autistic child to use a potty. It’s best to consult your pediatrician to make sure your little one is ready to be potty trained and ensure there are no other medical problems. There’s going to be some accidents along the way, but don’t let that discourage you.
