Potty Training

I think I've hit my breaking point today! After almost 3 weeks of potty training, we have seen very little improvement from the 1st day. Most of my girlfriends are telling me that this means Ethan is not ready. But I think if it was up to Ethan, he would always wear a diaper! My hope is to have Ethan trained by the time he starts school in a little over a month. So, I'm just going to keep doing what we are doing, and maybe someday he will get the hang of it.

What are we doing? Well for the first week, we did the Train Your Child in 3 Days. And, honestly, by day 3 & 4, he was very self-monitored and needed no help from Mommy or Daddy. But then, the weekend came (which meant wearing clothes& changes in environment), AND it was his birthday party at Grandma's house (lots of commotion). All our hard work went out the window. By the second week, he was back to having accidents twice an hour...PLUS getting upset every time we guided him to the bathroom.

I have a friend who is an Intervention Specialist at SEAPCO, and she has provided us with some materials to help Ethan in his training. Ethan has really responded well to the Potty Training Social Story now hanging next to the toilet. Every time we make a trip to the bathroom, Ethan says, "Mommy read" and points to the poster. He also really likes the step-by-step directional strip she gave us....which is hanging next to the toilet as well. Every time he completes a step, he pushes the tap down. This has really helped him included washing his hands, which was a major battle prior to the strip of directions.


I am also reading/studying Toilet Training for Individual with Autism & Related Disorders by Maria Wheeler, M.Ed. It has a lot of great information, as well as case studies. For example, one story talked about a little girl who was having accidents twice an hour.....just like Ethan. What they had to do was limit how available juice/water was because she was drinking all day long. Our Ethan is the EXACT same way! We give him sports bottles with juice/water to help prevent spilling. However, he doesn't drink them because he is thirsty....the sucking on the sports bottle is a calming technique to him. So, we have switched his drinks to an open cup, and he isn't drinking near as much...and the accidents have lessened! So, realizing I took away a calming "toy", I have made chewing necklaces for him. Only time will tell if he will use them....and I am still thinking of ways to better my "pattern" for this necklace.