Help! toilet training, etc.

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone!

My daughter, Phoebe, has CSWS (rare epilepsy) and at age 3 she had a global

regression and lost all of her previously acquired skills (including

language, motor skills, attention and most other cognitive development.)

She is now 7 and developmentally like 2 (only not even a " typical " 2, as

" typical " 2 year olds mimic, and Phoebe doesn't) Her seizures have been

controlled for nearly 3 years and her EEG is clear right now due to a high

dose Prednisone treatment that we are nearing the end of.

We want to use this time of relative calm to get her toilet trained.

We have always used " positive parenting " methods with Phoebe, we never had

to use disciplinary methods with her. She just never needed them. The

problem is that now that she doesn't respond to the same impetus. She will

say " drink " or " hungry " or even a particular food item, but we just cannot

get her to indicate her need for the toilet. We do have some success because

I put her on consistently. But she often sneaks in a " poop " .

We tried the big girl underwear concept, the rewards, etc. Why can she say

food items or Barney or play, but not Potty?

The same goes for using a fork. She can do it. Will do it with constant

vigilance, but prefers using her fingers and will not respond to our

" reminders. "

I don't know what ABA is exactly, and after reading the pieces here, I won't

pursue it, but does anyone have any ideas about how we can help motivate

Phoebe to gain these important life skills?

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

Hi, I've been potty training my 5 year old and what I do is put underwear on him

and take him to the potty ever 30 minutes.

Cassie-

Shur <alex@...> wrote:

Hi Everyone!

My daughter, Phoebe, has CSWS (rare epilepsy) and at age 3 she had a global

regression and lost all of her previously acquired skills (including

language, motor skills, attention and most other cognitive development.)

She is now 7 and developmentally like 2 (only not even a " typical " 2, as

" typical " 2 year olds mimic, and Phoebe doesn't) Her seizures have been

controlled for nearly 3 years and her EEG is clear right now due to a high

dose Prednisone treatment that we are nearing the end of.

We want to use this time of relative calm to get her toilet trained.

We have always used " positive parenting " methods with Phoebe, we never had

to use disciplinary methods with her. She just never needed them. The

problem is that now that she doesn't respond to the same impetus. She will

say " drink " or " hungry " or even a particular food item, but we just cannot

get her to indicate her need for the toilet. We do have some success because

I put her on consistently. But she often sneaks in a " poop " .

We tried the big girl underwear concept, the rewards, etc. Why can she say

food items or Barney or play, but not Potty?

The same goes for using a fork. She can do it. Will do it with constant

vigilance, but prefers using her fingers and will not respond to our

" reminders. "

I don't know what ABA is exactly, and after reading the pieces here, I won't

pursue it, but does anyone have any ideas about how we can help motivate

Phoebe to gain these important life skills?

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

The naked method worked for both of my boys. Both were practically

non-verbal when they trained (first between 20-22 mo self-motivated and

second at 3.5 and he trained literally overnight!) I found that by not

having pants on they could get to the potty and go right away without

struggling to take the pants off. My first was a little stripper

naturally, but with my second we started naked time to encourage the

potty. Both my boys have been fiercely independent and don't like to

accept help dressing or undressing until they have tried it first so

starting them off naked took that barrier away.

My second child, the apraxic one, trained last April. He was clearly aware

when he was going and was hiding behind furniture and such. Since it was

warm I just stopped putting pants on him to see what he would do. We had

tried pull-ups, cloth training pants and real undies (Rescue Heros for

further motivation) but he just peed in all then got extremely upset if it

was the real undies! When I finally just had him go naked it worked faster

than I could believe! For two days he would bring me diapers when he had

to pee or poop so he was aware when he had to go for sure. Then overnight

the next day he decided to use the potty. He has been trained from that

day for both urine and BMs with no accidents day or night (except a couple

times at night when he has been sick and given medication.)

He didn't start telling us he had to go at home until several months after

he trained. Surprisingly the child seemed to have memorized where every

bathroom in every store was before he was even trained (is that an

indication of how tiny *my* bladder is?) Although the best time was when

we were in the car waiting for the social security office to open. He

hopped out of the car and ran to the side of the building and dropped his

pants to his ankles and peed on the building! The whole line of people

waiting to get in burst into laughter and one man said, " I've often wanted

to do that same thing! " When we were at a store he would just run away

from me and I'd chase him all the way to the restroom! He would usually

make it just barely in time. When he started telling us he would just say,

" Go! " and put his hands over his groin. That progressed eventually into

" go potty. " He's been trained 10 months and for the past couple months he

will announce loudly, " Pee in potty! " (well more like pee-i-pah-E) or " poop

in potty! " when he has to go if he needs to let us know in the car or out

and about. At home or school he just goes without telling anyone.

I have several friends who did the naked during summer thing and found it

worked for their kids too. Of course it only works if the child is

actually aware that they have to go very soon. My apraxic son does not

have sensory issues and only has mild fine motor issues (pretty much just

pencil grip) so there wasn't that extra challenge. I'm sure for many

apraxic kids the often associated sensory issues are a significant barrier

to potty training.

Miche