Potty Training Boot Camp

Today has been the first day of our boot camp, our attempt to help A learn to use the potty. A has Asperger's Syndrome (on the Autism Spectrum), and one aspect of that that is particularly tough for this situation is he really does not seem to be aware of his bodily functions, which makes it very hard for him to learn to do anything in the toilet. After researching many different methods and talking with other moms of kids with developmental delays, DH and I decided to implement a behavior plan for him now, while DH is still home and can help.

All day today, we have been setting the timer for thirty minutes. Whenever it goes off, either DH or I takes A up to the potty where he sits and plays with special toys and books we bought that he can only play with and read while on the potty, all while the other one of us takes over for the other four kids. Our goal is to keep him on the potty each time for 10-20 minutes, hoping that at least one of the times there it will just happen and he'll get the sense of what it feels like. That hasn't happened yet, but after sitting for 15 minutes on the potty at 1:15 with no results, he came downstairs and began playing with something, only to stop in a moment and announce that he just peed in his pull-up! You have to understand, A is 4 1/2 and this is the FIRST time that he has been able to make the connection about how it feels to pee, that the wetness you then feel means you peed. This a HUGE milestone!!! Hopefully it will translate into peeing on the potty, and hopefully he will not become too resistant about going up the bathroom so often. But if nothing else, that was a big hurdle!!!