Autism Potty Training – The Ultimate Guide

From learning new routines, to knowing when it’s time to use the toilet, to being able to manipulate clothing, the potty training process can take many years for some children with autism to become experts. Keep in mind that children with autism are all very different and master skills at different times.

I’m not sure if Screen-Free Week is an American thing to get children away from watching TV and playing video games or if it is worldwide, but my children have been challenged by their school to get creative to keep all their screens (iPad, tablet, computer, and television) off.  One day in an attempt to keep them busy, I attempted to teach them how to play charades.  In the beginning it was fun trying to figure out what someone was gesturing in hopes that we would guess the correct word without them using their voice but it quickly became challenging and frustrating trying to explain just one word without any verbal cues.  After I calmed everyone down, I couldn’t help but think of my interview with Margret Eriksdottir (cofounder of the Golden Hat Foundation) and her non-speaking son Keli that told me how Keli had no way to verbally communicate for over ten years until she went on a journey to make a documentary and on it learned of a sensory based approach to communicating called Rapid Prompting Method. Margret was brave enough to publicly admit that she had given up trying to communicate with Keli and trying to find a way for him to communicate because the experts told her that his cognitive ability would never pass that of two year old. There are countless parents that have shared this frustration but what about the person that can’t communicate? I want you to seriously consider how frustrated you would be if you couldn’t communicate your basic needs, your preferences, your problems, your interests? Honestly, charades helped put a small piece of the frustration of people not understanding me into context.

Until he turned three, I felt like everything we were going through was just what kids went through. Then Damien stopped talking, made repetitive movements, and we noticed him doing different things with textures and sounds. We know now he has sensory problems, but I am not going to lie, I felt so lost during that time. We went to doctor after doctor and were told that he would stop on his own, and when we finally got him the referral to the head autism center, we had to wait over a year to be seen.

Most of us are familiar with reward or incentive charts. Maybe we first came across them as a child, hoping to receive a star for our chart on the kitchen fridge. Or perhaps we learned about them when studying to be a teacher. Whether you call them sticker charts, star charts, or behavior modification or goal charts, the idea is the same: to nudge behavior in a desirable direction.

On top of the “duties” of everyday life, dealing with unscheduled meltdowns, potty training issues, countless therapy sessions, and endless fighting with the school system to get the much-needed and well-deserved accommodations and services, parenting a child with autism can be VERY stressful and overwhelming. Many parents may attest to the fact that we become really good at operating on auto pilot.  It is as if our bodies operate and move in almost a robotic way. It is the same thing, different day (wash, rinse, repeat).

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The opportunities for learning and adventure seem endless. There are puzzle spelling words, learning games, social stories…something for everyone.

The first thing I learned as a preschool teacher to children aged three to six who are on the spectrum is how to be “fun.” This seems like it would be common sense to any teacher or parent, but it is incredibly difficult to do especially when wheels, numbers, and letters on the circle time carpet are more interesting to the child. Being “fun” is unquestionably the MOST important part of my job teaching preschool at the Maier Centre with Children’s Autism Services of Edmonton.

I find that a large portion of my day is spent running on auto-pilot. I don’t really think about getting dressed, taking a shower, feeding the cat, driving to work, and so on.  I react to what I encounter in my environment almost instinctively, nailed down by habit, and granted … all of it seems pretty easy and straightforward.

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