Don't Go Green When Potty Training

I get asked regularly about how to potty train a child with autism. This is a hard question for me to field with any confidence. I am a Speech Language Pathologist. I don't try to keep my work narrow in scope but I will often mention that I work at the other end.

OK. I do help parents create visual schedules, write social stories and I have even talked to a shy dad or two about taking his son into the bathroom for a demonstration. However, since I, personally, have never potty trained a child with autism, I feel like a fraud if I give too much advice. Better to ask other parents who have successfully done this is what I often tell parents. I found this blog review of a potty training book recently and apparently it worked for at least one child. If anyone out there wants to add links or suggestions, I'd be happy to have more references to give out.

I do have one bit of advice, though, and that is: Don't teach your son to use a tree in your yard. This might seem like a good idea at the time but the tree in your yard looks a lot like other trees. Once again, this week, one of my young friends thought that the little apple tree in our clinic play yard looked like the tree in his yard and he had his pants down before his dad could say a word. His red-faced dad mumbled something about the fact that they lived way out in the country.



Another good link on potty training on a blog full of good parenting tips that may or may not work but are worth considering: Moms with Marbles