Toilet training the challenged child

Are you ready to train?

It involves role modeling

Ready to bear the tantrum

5 to remember

• Expressing anger and reprimanding your child will only get you farther away from success

• Give it time• Set achievable goals• Don’t start until both you and your child are

ready• Get everyone on board

16 Signs Made Super Simple• Health• Longer period of dryness• Awareness of needing to void • Awareness of being wet or dirty• Potty-eliminated connection• intrigued by grownups and grownup things• Enough time • Developmental age • Interest in personal hygiene• Physical capability

Signs Made Super Simple

• Interest in watching others• Cause and effect • Agreeability• Interpret and follow instruction• Comprehension and communication• Outward signs of needing to void• Regularity and larger volume elimination

Pee, Poop and the potty

• Introduce potty talk or potty pictures or potty gestures

• Use modeling and imitation• Introduce books or movies all about using the

potty

Potty training tools

apps on android

Potty training programs• Habit training It works by setting up scheduled toilet trials based on your Childs elimination

patterns. Based on the opinion of Toilet Training Individuals with Autism and Related Disorders, habit training is most effective for the child who has a developmental age of three or younger, or has a developmental age of above three but hasn’t responded to regular toilet training methods or seems to have no awareness of needing to go Habit training is not an overnight process and it does require a lot of dedication and consistency. If you feel that your lifestyle would not be able to support a consistent longer term potty program you may either want to consider intensive training or wait until more time opens for the potty program.

Stages of habit training

• Monitoring stage • Analyzing stage • Setting up a time based schedule• Setting up an activity based schedule• Alternative plan1. Activity linked toilet trials2. Generic timed toileting • Independence stage

Potty training programs

• Intensive training Intensive training is a shorter term training

method as compared to habit training, however, it requires a lot more daily work than habit training. Most intensive training plans suggest setting aside a period of three to five days for the toilet training program, however, there is no guarantee that this type of training will necessarily work that quickly for children with disabilities.

Rewards

Rewards

• Shaping• A reward method known as shaping can be

used for children with a fear of the bathroom. Shaping is used to overcome your child’s fears by rewarding him for taking very small, baby steps that will build up to the final goal.

Reward• Sticker Charts: Sticker charts work well for children with good comprehension, an older

developmental age (5 or above) and a good understanding of cause and effect. This plan can also be used for shaping, but only when working with developmentally older children. If your child is the type of child who likes to work towards earning things, and understands long-term concepts, this is probably the best plan for your child. Break the potty training process down into a set of hierarchical steps and assign sticker sizes to the goals based on the level of difficult. Create a sticker chart. Choose a large prize that your child may like (e.g. Going to a favorite restaurant, getting a special book etc.) which will be the grand finale prize. For example, let your child know that if she has a clean month she'll get to go to a favorable restaurant, or if he has two stickers on every day by the end of the week he gets to pick a toy out of the “special toy bag”. Personalize the reward plan so that the stickers act as the immediate motivator to complete an action, whereas the grand finale prize acts as a motivator to keep having consistent progress

Reward• Natural Rewards:

Natural rewards are great for a child who has a fascination with something bathroom related (e.g. flushing the toilet, using soap dispenser, putting down the toilet seat).For some autistic children rewards that do not have an obvious connection to the action may be overwhelming instead of reinforcing . If you find your child seems stressed by exaggerated praise or rewards, try using natural reinforces . For natural rewards such as flushing the toilet, it's fairly straight forward that if the child doesn't use the toilet he doesn't get to flush. However, make sure to include this reward as a separate entity on the child's visual schedule. If your child really likes to use the soap pump, allow him to wash his hands even if he's not successful on the toilet (for hygienic reasons). If he is successful on the toilet let him use an extra squirt of soap or lotion.

Ideas for natural reward

Phasing out

Once your child is able to complete the full potty process by herself without prompting, it is time to begin phasing out your bathroom presence and the rewards.

Personalizing the Plan

You know your child better than anyone. You know what she likes and what she doesn't like; what sets her off and what helps her to calm down. With all of your expert knowledge regarding your child, personalize her potty plan with the help of the following information:

Communicating the process

Assessing your child’s abilities

Avoid

• Defensiveness of senses• Distractability

Relaxation

Relaxation is key to potty training. Once your child is sitting on the toilet, your child needs to relax enough to let her sphincters open and eliminate.

Dressing for Success

During toilet training, your child has to hold back and wait to eliminate until seated on the toilet. For the first time ever, your child has had to actually have to stop himself from urinating or defecating immediately. At first, it can be hard for many children to hold back long enough to make it to the bathroom in time. It becomes important during toilet training to dress your child in clothing that can be taken off easily even if this means you may have to sacrifice his style for a while.

Thank you

Must read the articles that are provided to you at the end of session

References

• http://www.oneplaceforspecialneeds.com/main/library_toilet_training.html

• http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/kennedy_files/VKCLEND-ToiletTrainingDD.pdf

• https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/toilet-training/Pages/Toilet-Training-Children-with-Special-Needs.aspx

• http://www.kidstummies.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Toilet-Training-for-the-Challenged-Child.pdf