Aspergers and Potty Training

Our son is almost 3 years old and he has been 'diagnosed' with mild aspergers. My wife and I are trying everything that we know to get him potty trained, but he absolutely refuses to use the bathroom unless we physically take him there ourselves. Besides the diaper costs, we would like to get him properly potty trained. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mark Smith

Dear Mr. Smith,

 

Potty training can definately be a challenge but it doesn't have to be.Before begining any behavior plan your child's pediatrician should first evaluate that there are no medical concerns .Once your pediatrician gives you the go ahead the first thing to do when thinking about beginning a potty training program is to make sure your child is ready. This can be done by determining several things: 1) Does your child recognize the sensation of a full bladder? 2)Can your child withhold urine for upto 30 minutes? 3)Is your child independent with dressing and undressing?

If you have answered yes to these questions your child is probably ready to begin potty training.You will need to decide on an interval time for visits to bathroom based on the length of time you feel your child is able to  withhold (for instance 30 minute intervals). Your next step would be to identify reinforcers that your child can have access to only  when he is successful on the potty,  always remembering that your focus should be placed on your child's success using positive reinforcement. Never scold or punish when an accident occurs as this is a learning process for both you and your child. Do not give any sort of negative or positive attention to your child's accident. Your child will quickly catch on to what he needs to do to gain access to his reinforcer.

Potty training should be done when the entire family is prepared. It will require patience and consistancy. As with all our responses to your questions please keep in mind that this is a basic approach and any advice given is without personal or specific knowledge of your child, which could only be aquired through an assesment.Good Luck!

 

Daniela Tricoche

Butterfly Effects

 

Daniela

Thanks for the very imformative post. Our son has all the signs that he is ready to potty training. My specific question is what to do with regards to his temper tantrums and anger towards us when we take him to potty. He knows that he needs to go, but refuses to do so in the bathroom. I basically need to understand what to do about removing his anger when we ask him to go potty.

I read the response on the initial question and also found it very interesting. We have a daughter who is deathly afraid of going to the bathroom, no matter what/where it is. We feel she may not like the sensation or 'experience'. Does anyone have similar experiences that they can share, as well as some solutions. We are DESPERATE!!!

It may be beneficial to use some social stories (if you have not done so already) to explain to your child why he needs to use the toilet,what will happen, what is expected of him,etc.

Evaluate what your child is getting out of his tantrums. Does he get to escape his trip to the bathroom? does he get attention? Those answers will usually lead you in the direction of knowing how to handle the tantrum itself.For example if your child is tantruming because it gets him attention then you would need to make sure that when following through with prompting to use the bathroom  that you are not engaging in conversation,giving direct eye contact or any other form of attention.

Data collection and monitoring to make sure that what you have implemented is causing the behavior to decrease would be very important in this type of case and having said that  remembering that when implementing a behavior reduction technique there will almost always be an extinction burst,which means that the behavior will likely get worse before it gets better.When your child begins to follow through with his potty schedule without displaying tantrums with full prompting,then would be the time to focus on going from fully prompted to more and more independent.

I hope I was more helpful this time, I'm afraid that's probably as much as I can suggest  without knowing more details about your child.If you find that you continue to battle this problem you may want to consider having a Board Certified Behavior Analyst consult on your case for  specific programing.