My son is 2 years old and turning 3 and one of the hardest things I’ve had to do is potty train him. After numerous attempts with musical potty chairs, potty chairs and food stimuli, we finally found a system that helps you… 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 that after this we go to the bathroom (just to get him started). But let me back up for a moment on my method…
First days: I tried to record how many times he did #1 and #2 in his diaper. We designed the schedule in the picture and stuck to scheduled meal times so I could time myself when I checked his diaper.
This took about 2 days to get a good chart; it took a couple more days to get him used to the schedule.
Next, I started incorporating the potty into these schedules that 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 HOLDED him. He then held it until he put the pull-up on 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 hung on and hung on until he had to go and this wasn’t on the scheduled chart when this 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 put it in his underwear so that the moment he decides to do #1, he starts singing and then you can train him to sit on the potty.
Since my son insisted on potty training, I really had to potty train him, so:
Step 1 – Return to meal times
Step 2 – No more pull-ups at home – just workout pants…we use all in one type
Step 3: sensor in and we go according to the schedule. If you decide to hold it, that’s fine because the sensor will let me know when it starts.
Step 4 – Make sure the TV and anything else are at a reasonable volume so you can hear the sensor
Step 5 – Have a urinal nearby, where 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 leave. 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 that motivates him too.
Have your PECS potty card and PECS potty schedule in the bathroom and follow the steps while on and off schedule, in a hurry, this will ensure your child fully understands. Make sure your schedule has times marked when 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 fun to be taken to the bathroom or potty. Since he thinks it’s a game, he now tells me (in his own way) It’s time to run and then he comes to get 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 great article on autism and potty training at http://www.tinkletoonz.com/special_needs.html.