Autism & Toilet Training Article Found Online

As if toilet training were not difficult enough for parents, training a child on the autism spectrum to use the toilet presents additional challenges. Higher functioning children may have only a slight delay, while lower functioning children may not have success for many years, if at all. The positive thing is that parents can work on different strategies to eventually, step-by-step, get their child to a point where minimal supervision is needed and the child is able to independently perform these functions.

Often there are sensory issues involved that slow the process. Other issues are communicative in nature related to not understanding the social aspects of using the toilet. When a child has no speech, being used to diapers and then attempting to remove them and put on underwear makes little or no sense. They are used to going in the diaper and how that feels. When the child is ready, they might begin to imitate some of the things they see. This would likely be an ideal time to work at it. In most cases, urinating is the first success as with typical children. All children are different and the age that they "should" begin to try or learn cannot be defined other than "when they are ready" to begin. Parents can of course get a head start and work with pictures (pecs) and maybe storyboards (social stories) as cognitive tools, but the real deal will be the physical actions, and success should not be expected to happen overnight.

Remember that a child with autism will likely start toilet training later than typical children. Many cannot understand the "why" related to the social areas, and explaining it to them often does little good, especially if they are non-verbal. A lot of resistance may be purely sensory in nature, which can stall the success. There are many parents that use diapers for several years, graduate to pull-ups, (which is a huge gain and sign that you are getting there) and then may get into the underwear (with many messes). Do not be surprised if your non-verbal child is age 8-10 yrs. when you get "close". If you have the opportunity to spend a great deal of time daily with the child and/or can work along with an experienced professional, the success may or may not be faster. There are also cases where development is very low and it may not happen at all. Everything will depend on the level of severity of the autism. The other factor would be the participation of the parent(s) in a planned step-by-step gradual routine. The day that your child finally sits on that toilet and has some success will be worth all those trying efforts! Again, it takes more time, especially if there is no professional intervention and the parent is doing it alone, working with small successes and moving forward from there.

There are books by professionals and even live training for parents to assist in this process. Depending on where you live there may not be an instructor nearby, but contact your local autism society or support group and ask about this topic and where they would recommend you look for help. When you do have success, there will likely be a need for supervision on the "clean up" and some sanitation issues, but at least the child is able to have most of the process under control on their own. This issue is one of many that parents of children with autism face that is not understood by those that have typical children. Always remember that there are many parents like you out there that do understand and you are not alone...keep the faith!