Surviving Autism

Toilet training is the toughest feat every parent and child had to go through together what more training your child with autism.

When I went through an orientation to autism seminar by CARD Philippines this is one of the major issues raised by the parents.  How do we potty train our child when they are having so much difficulty learning the easiest like eating independently.

One thing that is consistent with all CWAs is that they remember and follow a certain routine. It is easiest for them to learn something if they do it everyday of their life until it  becomes automatic.

A technique that was taught to us was to to bring the child to the toilet after every 15 minutes and ask her to sit on the toilet for 5 seconds.  Most child with autism have difficulty sitting and staying at one place for more than 5 counts/seconds, so having them sit there for 5 seconds is an achievement already.

Every time you take the child to sit in the toilet tell him that this is where you should pee or poop like  “weewee/poopoo here”.

Be alert to their body signals and don’t forget to tell them where to pee or poop. In case they already go take them to the toilet again and tell them that this is where they should do it.

They will make a gesture that they are ready to poop so be alert.  When you see them crunching their tummy or making faces take them to the toilet immediately have them remove their pants and tell them “weeewee/poopoo here.”

Do this as often until you get fed of it but don’t stop until they get the idea because they sure take a long time to catch up.  It will take awhile but they surely will know.

I’m so proud that my daughter can poop on the toilet now and not on her pants.  Although I have to be alert to her body language to make sure she doesn’t go in her pants.  I also have to make sure that I’ll bring her to the toilet before going to bed and after waking up to make sure she doesn’t pee on her undies because more often than not they will forget about it because they don’t really mind what they are doing.  It’s the parents, the guardians or the child care giver to make sure she do things the right way.