How to Potty Train a Special Needs Child

How to Potty Train a Special Needs Child

If you have a special needs child, you know this will be challenging, but eventually it will work.

NEVER ANY NEGATIVITY - Never, no matter how gross the situation, you do not want to mix going to the potty with bad feelings, anger or disappointment.

TAKE OFF THE DIAPER - Your child needs to feel when they are wet or soiled. For many children, especially girls (I don't know why), once they feel wet clothes they never want to feel it again.

HAVE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT - A potty chair is a must, you cannot expect them to climb up and hold on. Your child needs to be able to place their feet flat on the floor as they are going potty. As they get older, a padded seat that fits on top of the toilet and a step stool is a great transition from potty chair to regular toilet.

HAVE A POTTY PARTY - This means staying in the bathroom for as long as it takes. If you stay in the bathroom with your child, reading to them or playing games, as soon as they need to go, you can get them on the potty quickly. You can also do this in another room of your house if you have a portable potty chair. The idea is to be right on top of the moment. Prime them with lots of water. If they do not want to drink, offer them a snack or candy and give a sip of water after every treat. This worked with my son, I gave him an m & m for every sip of water.

HELPFUL TIPS - Try turning on the faucet or filling a cup of water and pouring it into the potty as they are sitting on it.

REWARD - Have a favorite treat handy in the bathroom as a reward. Gradually phase out the reward as they become more consistent.

ACCIDENTS - If your child has an accident, go back to step 4. If they have soiled their pants, take it to the bathroom and have them flush it down.

If you stick with it you will have greater success in potty training your special needs child.

How to Potty Train a Child

How to Potty Train a Child

You will know when they are ready. I have a neice and nephew that were trained around 1 year, so if you have been putting it off, now is the time.

NEVER ANY NEGATIVITY - Never, no matter how gross the situation, you do not want to mix going to the potty with bad feelings, anger or disappointment.

TAKE OFF THE DIAPER - Your child needs to feel when they are wet or soiled. For many children, especially girls (I don't know why), once they feel wet clothes they never want to feel it again.

HAVE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT - A potty chair is a must, you cannot expect them to climb up and hold on. Your child needs to be able to place their feet flat on the floor as they are going potty. As they get older, a padded seat that fits on top of the toilet and a step stool is a great transition from potty chair to regular toilet.

TAKE YOUR CHILD TO THE POTTY MULTIPLE TIMES - 9 times in a row is a good place to start. Take them to the potty, have them pull their pants down and sit. Have them pull their pants up, leave the bathroom and repeat.

DO NOT FLUSH THE TOILET WHILE YOUR CHILD IS SITTING ON IT, it scares them! REWARD - Have a favorite treat handy in the bathroom as a reward. Gradually phase out the reward as they become more consistent.

ACCIDENTS - If your child has an accident, go back to step 4. If they have soiled their pants, take it to the bathroom and have them flush it down.

Stick with it and you will be able to potty train your child in no time.

Protect Your Child From the Risk of Autism

As the parent of an autistic child, I have researched and researched all the information about autism, every crazy theory, every crazy therapy. We have tried everything suggested by experts.

We remember back to our son before he was diagnosed. Happy go lucky little boy that was very outgoing, made excellent eye contact and was very curious. Immediately following his 18 month immunizations he became withdrawn, stopped talking and seemed almost depressed as we describe it. We did not get a diagnosis for almost a year later.

The doctor assured us that his immunizations did not contain mercury. Mercury is not the culprit, but the immunizations are. Immunizations make brains swell up. We believe this swelling caused brain damage.

We believe in getting immunizations, however, we think that they should not be given in large quantities like the doctors want to do. Have your children get their immunizations one at a time. Each shot has multiple immunizations in it, so one shot at a time is enough.

If you want to reduce the risk of your child getting autism, demand to have only one immunization at a time. The doctor will fight you on this. It is a hassle to come back to the doctors office multiple times, but the additional visits are quick. You can just run in with your child and meet briefly with the nurse to receive another immunization.

From my experience I do not think that children should receive any immunizations before 6 months of age.

Each additional immunizations should be spread months apart, 2 weeks apart at a minimum.

Fight the doctor, it is worth your childs life.

New Sensory Items For Autism and Others

My autistic son would just love most of these items. The pyschedelic color therapy looks awesome. He would love to look at this type of art and possibly participate in making some.

The padded chair may look scary to some people, but my son would absolutely go crazy over this sort of thing. He loves to get inside things. I would have a difficult time getting him out of it.

The egg chair looks similar to something we already have. We have an egg shaped chair from Ikea. It closes, but not a solid door. A cloth light weight almost see through cloth expands and closes. It also spins around. All my children love this chair.

The cloud tent (room) is awesome for adults or kids. If you need some time to think about something or relax, this space will give you a quiet and peaceful place. My autistic son would love this one too. He loves tents.

I don't know if my son would like the Chromotherapy shower, but I know a lot of adults that would love it, how cool.

The full body rocking lounger is so awesome. Who would not love this chair. I know my son would love it too.

The bottom photo is of an air purifier with mood lights, it is awesome. My autistic son would definitely love this item.