My son is 2 going on 3 and one of the hardest things I've ever had to do is potty train him. After numerous attempts with musical potty's, potty seats on the toilet and food encouragement we finally found a system that helps him ...... PECS.
The PECS system is actually working along with a daily schedule of events so that he knows when I will request for him to go to the potty. Let me spell it out.
We have a PECS chart of a daily schedule and in between every event I have a potty on the schedule so that he knows after this then we potty (just to get him started). But let me back up a moment on my method...
First days - tried to chart how many times he did #1 and #2 in his diaper. We devised the picture schedule and stuck to scheduled eating times so that I could time when I checked his diaper.
This took about 2 days or so to get a good chart; took a couple more days just to get him used to the schedule.
Next - I started to incorporate the potty at these times that I charted and added it to the Picture schedule. My son already knew what the potty was so I thought this would be no problem. Boy was I wrong. Every time he went to the potty he would HOLD it. He then held it until he got his pull-up on and did everything in the Pull-up. How frustrating was this for me! I couldn't let that stop me though so I thought of Plan B. How about we eliminate the Pull-ups and leave his bottom naked all day. You know where this is going right? Well he held it and held it until he just had to go and this was not on the scheduled chart when this occurred! Ugh! what to do right?
Then I found this ingenious invention: Tinkle Toonz sensor Saved the Day! This is the sensor that goes into the Tinkle Toonz potty. You can actually just purchase the sensor and place it in their underwear so at the moment they decided to do #1 it starts to sing and then you can train them to sit on the potty.
Since my son insisted on going in the pull-up I had to really train him to go to the potty so:
Step 1 - Back to the schedule for meals
Step 2 - No more pull-ups @ home - only training pants.. we use the all in one kind
Step 3 - sensor in and we go according to the schedule. If he decides to hold it, it's ok cause the sensor will tell me when he starts
Step 4 - Make sure the TV and anything else is turned down to a reasonable volume so you can hear the sensor
Step 5 - Have a potty close by- where you are and have the bathroom door open and ready.
Make sure nothing is in your way so you can run like the wind when they start to go. My son can start and stop so I run like the wind and I also take him to the potty when I have to go, just in case this motivates him as well.
Have your PECS potty card and PECS potty schedule in the bathroom and go through the steps while on the schedule and while off - in a hurry - this will ensure that your child understands thoroughly. Make sure your schedule has the times marked when your child will go #2. They usually go at the same time every day, the sensor will not detect this. After a while, my son thought it was fun to be whisked away to the bathroom or the potty. Since he thinks it's a game, he now tells me ( in his own way) It's time to run and then comes to get me to run to the potty. Because I am happy and excited and we cheer afterwards he loves it. We still have accidents but this is helping us tremendously.
If you are interested in the Tinkle Toonz potty or sensor you can find this at http://www.tinkletoonz.com/. They also have a really good article about autism and potty training at http://www.tinkletoonz.com/special_needs.html.
I found the PECS system for potty training at http://www.do2learn.com/picturecards/printcards/selfhelp_toileting.htm
Let me know how it's going! :)
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