Potty training with PECS and sensor – ASD moms must have!
RelationshipMy son is 2 and turning 3 and one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do is potty train him. After numerous attempts with musical potties, toilet potties, and food stimuli, we finally found a system that helps… PECS.
The PECS system actually works in conjunction with a daily schedule of events so you know when I’m going to ask you to go to the bathroom. Let me spell it.
We have a PECS chart of a daily schedule and between each event I have a potty on the schedule so he knows to go to the bathroom after this (just to get him started). But let me back up for a moment on my method…
First few days: I tried to record how many times he did #1 and #2 in his diaper. We designed the picture schedule and stuck to scheduled feeding times so I could time when I checked her diaper.
This took about 2 days to get a good graph; it took a couple more days to get him used to the schedule.
Next, I started incorporating the potty into these times I rented and added it to the Picture schedule. My son already knew what a potty was, so I figured this wouldn’t be a problem. Boy was he wrong. Every time he went to the bathroom, I HOLD him up. Then he held it until he got into the pull-up and did everything in the pull-up. How frustrating this was for me! I couldn’t let that stop me though, so I thought of Plan B. How about we cut out the pull-ups and leave her butt bare all day? You know where this is going right? Well he held on and held on until he had to go and this was not on the scheduled chart when it happened! Yuck! what to do right?
Then I found this nifty invention: The Tinkle Toonz Sensor saved the day! This is the sensor that goes on the Tinkle Toonz potty. In fact, you can just buy the sensor and attach it to his underwear so that the moment he decides to do #1 he starts singing and then you can potty train him.
Since my son insisted on going potty I really had to potty train him so:
Step 1 – Return to meal schedule
Step 2 – No more pull-ups at home – just workout pants… we use all in one type
Step 3: Sensor in and we’re going according to schedule. If you decide to hold it, that’s okay because the sensor will let me know when it starts.
Step 4 – Make sure the TV and anything else is at a reasonable volume so you can hear the sensor
Step 5 – Have a potty nearby, wherever you are, and have the bathroom door open and ready.
Make sure nothing gets in your way so you can run like the wind when they start to go. My son can start and stop, so I run like the wind and also take him to the potty when I have to go, in case this motivates him too.
Keep your PECS toilet card and PECS toilet schedule in the bathroom and follow the steps while in and out of the schedule, in a hurry, this will ensure your child fully understands. Make sure your schedule has the marked times that your child will go #2. They usually go at the same time every day, the sensor will not detect it. After a while my son thought it was funny to be led to the bathroom or potty. Since he thinks it’s a game, he now tells me (in his way) It’s time to run and then he comes looking for me to run to the bathroom. Because I’m happy and excited and we cheer after he loves it. We still have accidents, but this is helping us tremendously.
If you are interested in the Tinkle Toonz potty or sensor, you can find it at http://www.tinkletoonz.com/. They also have a very good article on autism and potty training at http://www.tinkletoonz.com/special_needs.html.