Potty Training Spectrum +

[aslmere]

Conor is going to be 7 in august.
He is somewhere on the spectrum + he has a still unknown genetic disorder that affects his growth and muscle tone + spd, he is one unorganized kid most of the time.
He readily accepts going to the the bathroom and standing in front of the toilet as part of the schedule at school, but refuses to sit on the potty for longer than 2 seconds without his pants off. He does like to sit there with his pants on though... often sitting too low and getting them wet
He is not able to independantly pull up or pull down his pants yet. And most of the time has no awareness of when he is needing to be changed.

Am I crazy for thinking that I could possibly get him pt'ed this summer?
I had originally declared it "the summer of the potty" for both him and his 2 year old brother. But the early head start lady told me not even to try with Asher if he couldn't yet pull down his own pants, which he can't.
So I am thinking about giving up the idea.

But I am expecting again in dec and would love love love to have both the boys out of diapers before baby arrives.

How would I even go about doing this... other than setting a timer and taking him to the bathroom every 15 min, I have no ideas.

I don't really want to make MORE work for myself, but if I could possibly have less work in the near future that would be great.

[Adamsmama]

Your son sounds just like my son, who is also 7, not fully potty trained. He is autistic, has SPD and cerebral palsy (low/high tone and is very very small for his age). I'm also expecting (end of Nov.) My son can pull his pants down now but refuses to poop in the potty. He will be 8 in Feb. He still poops his pants just about every day. (maybe one time a week he doesn't go but usually he does). It is frustrating and I don't know what to do for him -- I was thinking it is a developmental milestone he hasn't met yet. I'm hoping our newly starting ABA can help with this because I don't really know what to do. He is pretty consistant with peeing. I'm sorry not to be more help!

[chrfath]

I don't think you are crazy. It sounds alot like what I have here. Different SN but same ages of kids.

Our behaviorist said the first thing you have to do is know how often the child is going or needs to go. So checking the diaper every 15 minutes to see when they are wet for a week. Lots of work. I swear my DD just dribbles it out when ever.

Once you know a bit of a time schedule then you move onto the timer and going on a schedule. I feel like we will be the ones trained and not the child, but if it is a step toward no diapers that would be nice.

I plan to let her just be naked most of the summer so she can get wet, she doesn't really seem to care if her underware and pants are soaked. Someone pointed out that 7 years is a really long time to be used to just soiling your pants.

Anyway, I don't really know where I am going with all this. Hopefully something will be helpful. I have to check, I think our T21 group has a webinar up from the SN behaviorist potty specialist in Cleveland. I'll be back with a link if I can find one.

Good luck. Hopefully we can all hurdle this milestone this summer.

[aslmere]

Thanks to both of you!
I am almost afraid to start trying...but I guess if we don't try it isn't going to change.

I heard from a mom last summer whose son had just pt'ed and he was 10. So I am trying not to be discouraged, but really I don't want three in diapers!

I do know that he recently started holding it in for longer and then really letting it go. We had to move from pull ups to jr briefs for more absorbancy because we were leaking 3 times a day!

Still really thinking about the plan. Any advice or links would be much appreciated!! thanks!!!

We can do it!!!