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When you have a child on the autism spectrum, you may wonder hot toilet training will work. Children on the spectrum range in functionality from verbal and active to non-verbal and inactive. You must understand your child, and you can use these tips to help them learn to use the potty. You cannot know for sure how your child will react, and you should not use the tips you got from your friends. If their children do not have autism, their experience could be vastly different from your own.

Know When They Are Ready

In-home aba therapy helps you learn your child’s behavior patterns. When your child is ready for potty training, they start using gestures that indicate they are ready. Some children will go to the toilet and lift the lid. These children might visit you in the bathroom when you are on the toilet. Some children will point to their bottom because they have pooped or peed in their diapers. The child knows they have gone to the bathroom, and you might ask them if they want to use the potty. These signs let you know that they are ready. However, you cannot throw your child into toilet training immediately. It is difficult for a child with autism to potty train because they may need more reinforcement than other children.

Prepare For Toilet Training

Aba home care is a good way to learn about preparing for children with autism. You need to childproof your home for much longer than normal, and you may need to get more than one training potty. Everyone is different, but you can ask a therapist to help you when you have questions about how to prepare the house. You may want to put a sheet or tarp under the training toilet. You could do the same in your bathroom. You might have some wet wipes ready in the bathroom and kitchen in case there is an accident. Plus, you should have cleaning products prepared in case there is an accident on the furniture. You do not want to force your child to go without diapers, how you should find pull-up diapers that have their favorite characters. Your child will love to use these diapers because they like the design. You can even call the diapers by the name of the character. You can ask your child to pull up their “character” diapers, and you can add their favorite character to the training process.

Use These Tips To Make Toilet Training As Consistent As Possible

When you want to make toilet training as easy as possible, you can use all these tips to make potty training easier. Remain positive at all times, and offer as much praise you can when trying these tips:

• Praise the child every time they try to go potty
• Use non-verbal praise like clapping and high fives. You can reinforce your child more especially if they are non-verbal
• You can invite them to do their favorite activity or play with their favorite toy
• You can put a sticker on a chart that shows when they used the potty. You could also offer rewards if they get a certain number of stickers
• Offer them a healthy snack as a reward. You do not want to use junk food or candy

You can create a system for your house that makes sense, and you might ask your child which rewards they want. If your child feels like they are part of the process, they are more likely to want to potty train.

Understand Common Challenges

When you have a child on the autism spectrum, some parts of the potty training process might feel punitive. Your child might not quite understand the process, or they might handle change very well. You could help your child if you need to, and you might create a routine that helps them understand what to do. Start by using a specific language. You do not want to use different words and phrases when your child needs to go potty. Use the same sentence every time like, “Susie, go sit on the potty.” Susie will understand what she needs to do, and she will not need to process different words to understand. If you think that your child will not necessarily understand the process, you can put them on the toilet. Explain to them that they are sitting on the potty, and they will learn what to do when you tell them to use the potty. For this part of the process, you might want to use washable or reusable diapers. Do not let your child sit on the toilet for long periods of time. The child might feel like they are being punished if they stay on the toilet for too long. Plus, you should try to remain positive. Accidents could happen, and you should clean them up without punishing your child. This is a good time to reinforce what they should do if they need to go potty. Also, you should use the same word for the potty. The word that you choose is the word that everyone in the house uses. If you say potty and your husband says toilet, your child could get confused.

What If You Have Some Setbacks?

If you have setbacks, you must stick with the plan that you created. You do not want to change everything because you had one bad day. Some children will not behave very well at times because they do not feel well or they are upset with something else that happened in the house. If your child does not like the potty, you should give them some time to cool off. Your child will naturally go back to the toilet if you have created a system where you point them to the toilet, provide support, and remain positive.

Conclusion

Children on the autism spectrum should be given as much leeway as possible when learning to potty train. You can work with an in-home therapist who will help you with your child, and you can use tips that will make potty training easier. Above all else, you must remain positive. Potty training could take some time, and you might spend a lot of time taking your child to the bathroom. Reinforcement and positive activities will make your child more excited about using the potty.