~Potty training a child with Autism can be a challenge~

Potty training and Autism don’t always go well together.

We REALLY struggled with Gavin but Elliott was pretty easy once he was “ready”. Emmett is a challenge because communication is such a constant issue. Emmett is VERY big into routine so that works to our advantage…..at times.

Right now Emmett will use the potty on his own. He just struggles a bit with timing of it. He even has his little routine. He will say “potty” and then take his diaper off where ever he is (he not bashful, so you imagine the rest) and runs to the bathroom. He lifts up the lid and literally climbs onto the toilet and sits

there. He will ONLY pee in the potty. As far as he’s concerned, poop still belongs in a diaper (we need to work on that).

When he has finished, he tears off a single piece of toilet paper and tosses it in the toilet, closes the lid and then flushes. This is where we STRUGGLED with Gavin. Gavin was, and sometimes still is TERRIFIED of the “flushing toilet” noise.

Once he has flushed the toilet he washes his hands. He goes to the sink and grabs the giant bottle of hand sanitizer and puts the bottle on the lid to the toilet and squirts some onto his hands and washes them. We will move to soap but for right now this is something…..right. Then he runs into our

bedroom to get a diaper.

So we are making progress in the land of potty training. The problem right now is that if we deviate from his routine then he falls apart and reverts back to his diaper.

Autism is complicated to say the least but baby steps will get us there.