Toileting in Natural Environment

[Guest guest]

Hello,

A few weeks ago, I wrote a reply to a posting regarding Potty

training. I mentioned, at that time, that Little Joe had never had

a BM in the potty.

Since that time, he has started going to school on Tues/Thurs

afternoons, in addition to his Mon-Thurs mornings. We had an IEP on

Tues, October 11th, and Little Joe hadn't had a BM in the toilet yet

then.

He was supposed to begin his afternoon classes on Tues, Oct 25th. I

had talked to his afternoon teacher, and she said since he'd never

had a BM in the toilet that it would be a good idea for him to wear

a pull-up under his underwear. At that time, I agreed to do this

because he hadn't used the toilet for BM's.

Friday night, October 21st, he had his first BM in the toilet, and

he has been wearing underwear 24/7. We've been sending him to

school in the mornings in underwear, and for his first afternoon we

sent him in underwear.

He had gotten to the point over the last couple of months that he

would wear underwear all day long and ask for a pull-up when he

needed to have a BM over the last month.

He's worn underwear, no pull-ups, for a little over 2 weeks now, and

he's only had 5 BM accidents. 2 accidents days were at school in

the afternoon, 1 in the child care at the YMCA, and 2 at home.

The afternoon teacher has said that he cannot come in underwear

because " he has never had a BM in the toilet. " I explained to her

that he had started doing that since the IEP. She said that it

creates " unsanitary conditions " and that he cannot come to school in

underwear in the afternoons because he does not go in the toilet.

I explained to her that he was going in the toilet at home, and I

told her my concern with him wearing pull-ups is that he will have

his BM in the pull-up and refuse to go in the potty, using the pull-

up as a crutch.

My question is:

Do I continue saying I want him to wear underwear and not pull-ups

because I want him to continue using the skill of using the potty

for BM's?

or

Do I give in and allow him to wear pull-ups on Tues/Thurs afternoons

because the school has told me he must?

I REALLY want to keep him in underwear all the time and encourage

him using and increasing the newly acquired skill in the natural

environment. I believe most of his schools he has learned at home,

and it takes awhile to utlize them elsewhere.

What are your thoughts and/or suggestions?

Thank you in advance!!

Candie

P.S. Oh! BTW, I had to share this...

I forgot to mention that my hubby had bought a bubble gun/blower as

a reward for when Little Joe did have a BM in the potty. We had

that for 2 months before he was able to play with it. When he did

go in the potty on October 21st, he ran down the hall yelling " I

went poopy in the potty...Play with bubble gun NOW??? "

Then, last Monday night, I told him that we would go trick-R-

treating as soon as he went poopy in the potty. He went immediately!

The next night, he went to the bathroom on his own, went poopy, came

out, and said " Go Trick-R-Treating after poopy in the potty?? "

I think he knows what he needs to do, and he can do it. He is very

capable.