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My son with ASD is 10 now and we started potty training when he was almost 3. We used the “Oh Crap! Potty Training book but stretched out the 3 days to 5. We picked out underwear and then had him go without a diaper or anything the first couple days, just pants the third and then underwear for a couple days. I learned his cues and told him when it was time to go. I didn’t ever ask him if he needed to go because he wouldn’t realize it. He also loved the potty books we got for him. I think the only reward we have him was watching a video. For #2, it was harder to teach him and I am not sure how he finally got it. He also regressed during Covid and we had to get him more on a schedule at that time.

Great video, thanks for the tips. Always enjoy your videos. ❤

Thanks for the video, it's really helpful!

Former preschool teacher here. All the advice in this video is spot on. 😊

Great job Simon and parents 🎉

Very important topic!!!

Thankyou so much for these awesome tips so helpful and a life saver. We tried one in particular with our 4 year old son who is also ASD/ ADHD and it was a success. Thankyou love all your videos.

It’s good to see that this video has been uploaded and parents or guardians can begin to benefit from the tips in this video.

This is so amazing to hear another parent understanding the daily struggles of potty training with a autistic child. Definitely glad you pointed out the rewards and incentives. Most importantly the way you said they don't like to stop what they're doing when it's time to go. Great job breaking this down love your videos

Great video, i was going to mentioned what also helped us to have him go in public places we bought a fold up seat on amazon. so it folds up small for a purse or diaper bag and we always take it or to grandmas. Plus we used a potty watch at first he loved wearing it and you can set the timer and then it sings a potty song and lights up.

My Autistic son had many sensory issues. He was not ready until 4 1/2 years and trained day and night with a reward system. He was high functioning even though he had melt downs and ADHD. We rewarded him with a prize. Started out with about a $8.00 prize and then working its way down to smaller prizes then rewards of doing something he liked. He was trained in 2 weeks. I also left him in his underwear. It is better not to use a pull up because it is absorbent and feels to much like a diaper. Soggy or poop 💩 filled underwear are uncomfortable and making them want to hurry to the potty so that doesn’t happen. He graduated from High School in the year 2000 and works as a cashier with no assistance at Walgreens. He had two much older brothers who are neurotypical. My sons are 41, 37 and 21 and all have summer birthdays. My youngest son was born when I was 45 years old. I also have 4 Grandchildren. Two Grandsons and two Granddaughters. Ages 6,5,3 and 1.

I don't have any children but love how close your family is. You have an amazing family!! God bless you all!

7 ahead family thanks for sharing your thoughts

Many kids don’t understand time well enough until age two-and-a-half to three (or even four) to respond to timers but when they are ready something like a timer app or a potty watch can be effective when they are ready. Many kids who have either level one or level two autism might not respond to timers until at least age three-and-a-half. Some children (especially if they are level three) might take even longer with this.

I was just looking at a new video on Andrea Olson’s KZfaq channel about Elimination Communication and she showed how a product works that covers up the automatic flush sensor on public toilets. This could be useful for Ezra if you are working on his toilet training when you are out of the house if he is still afraid of the automatic flush. It could also be useful if Simon starts to regress a bit off and on and his fear of the automatic flush returns. According to the video description on her channel the product is called FlushHush.

Andrea Olson just uploaded a video to KZfaq (based on one of her blog entries with the same title as her video) titled “How to tell when it’s potty time”. The tips in that video are primarily for infants and for young toddlers but they might potentially work for any child who is not speaking or signing yet (or even just not speaking or signing yet about needing to “go”). I just watched that video a short time ago this morning and it seems to me that it might be a good supplement to this video especially with children who are either not yet verbal or who are still early in the toilet training process.

These were all great tips. The only thing I did differently was to use a potty chair with all 3 of my children. It was something wide, sturdy, and short so they could easily get on and off by themselves. It also allowed me to use the big toilet while they used their little potty at the same time. Seeing what other people do while in the bathroom is a big help to some kids. We also had a potty chair in the back of the suv which was great when we were out and about or on road trips. Also, having books or electronics in the bathroom was so distracting to my kids that they wouldn’t successfully potty. We had to concentrate on what we were there to do. 😊 So every kid really is different.

Thank you so much for this video. My daughter is 3, autistic and nonverbal, and this has been a massive struggle. There is almost no content out there for how to go about this with a kid on the spectrum and this is the first one I have found. Thank you!

I remember when I was younger and still using a potty chair (so before age four) I wasn’t able to undo the button on my shorts and I didn’t know how to ask for help yet so at least three times I felt the need to “go” and sat down on the potty chair with my shorts still on. Needless to say I needed a bath whenever this happened. One time when this happened my mother was in the kitchen making spaghetti and meatballs. Another time when I wasn’t feeling well (I think I had a cold) my mother was in the kitchen making chicken noodle soup for me. And yet another time my mother was taking a nap on the couch. In all three instances that I can remember I ended up having a bath just before dinner. I have read on various blogs that it is not uncommon for kids in general to do this off and on when they are toilet training.

It’s good that Marie was pointing to various objects in the bathroom and asking Simon “Is this the potty?” and waiting for an answer. For children who are able to understand some questions and who are beginning to communicate verbally like Simon is this is a very important step for reinforcing relevant memories of what a toilet is (and what it isn’t) and clearing up any confusion/misconceptions that the child might have about this. Also if a parent has decided to use training pants of any kind and the child is at least as verbal as Simon is in this video it is important to ask him or her questions to make sure that he or she understands the difference between underpants, training pants, diapers, and what each one is for. I know someone who has a grandson who is in at least his second year of kindergarten who has level two autism and only recently became as verbal as Simon is now. He is good at math and reading for someone his age (He actually does math and reading on up to a second grade level (at least on good days)) but he’s still in kindergarten in the morning because of some struggles with both toilet training and socializing. In the afternoon he does math and reading in more advanced classes in a first or second grade classroom) but he still gets certain concepts like (“potty chair” and “car seat”) and (“underwear” and “training pants”) mixed up fairly often. He sometimes uses the toilet and can even usually change himself after a wetting accident (he still wears either pull-ups or easy ups pretty much all the time). If reminded he will often use the toilet but he’s not really completely independent yet. It is at least possible that if he were asked questions similar to the ones that Marie asked Simon like “Is this a potty?” on a regular basis that some of his current misunderstandings might have been cleared up already, but then again who knows? On a related note by about age five to five-and-a-half after I was training for a while (for me a while was a year or so) (back in the early 1980s) if I started “going” in the wrong place my mother would say (if I was sitting on her lap at the time and starting to “go”) “Silly Tommy, Mommy’s not a potty!”. If I was wetting my car seat (or having any type of accident) at the same age my mother would say things like “Uh-oh (or oh no) Tommy you’re going potty in your car seat”. Other times she would say things like “Silly Tommy that’s not a potty that’s your car seat!”. Given where I was socially at that age (I was level two/“moderate” on the spectrum by today’s criteria) I wouldn’t experience embarrassment on anything like a regular basis until at least age nine (if not ten) but mild corrections like these after a genuine misunderstanding leading to an “accident” of either type still worked pretty well for me without any time outs. For me time outs (typically one minute for each year of age) followed by a brief explanation of why I was put in time out were typically reserved for any obvious “on purposes” such as wetting or soiling as part of a temper tantrum. I only rarely did this, but it did happen from time to time even at age five or so. No other punishments were ever needed for me to complete my toilet training. For now that pretty much sums up my observations on this.

The next toilet training areas you can work on with Simon are using the toilet standing up, followed by nighttime training. There is no rush with either of these. My father started working on the “going standing up” skill with me when I was tall enough to get on the toilet and use it without assistance. For me this was around age four-and-a-half. When Simon is a bit older his father or one of his older brothers can show him how to do this. Regarding nighttime training one thing that Simon can work on (which ties in with becoming more independent) is being able to put on and take off his own nighttime diapers. Also being able to put on and take off his own pajamas can help in this regard (provided that he wakes up in time). The rest of it just comes down to a combination of bladder capacity and waking up in a timely enough fashion. For the vast majority of kids this eventually comes in time. Usually there’s not much (if anything) that can be done to speed this up to any significant degree.

My parents (and probably some other relatives) could tell any number of stories about my regressions (some as late as when I was in kindergarten). Such regressions are part of the reason why I needed to change over to a different kindergarten class in the same school with a smaller class size where the teacher could read my cues (e.g. the potty dance). Fortunately I was pretty much back on track before first grade and able to start first grade on schedule.

I was just reading something online a short time ago about the connection between the sound of running water and related sounds (like the sound of putting gas in the car) and accidents. This is something that happens during (and for a while after) toilet training. It also happens when people get older and bladder control begins to weaken (starting as early as the mid-to-late forties or early fifties for some people). This means that even though Simon has been daytime trained since at least November accidents are still possible. For example, if Simon is not yet consistently verbalizing when he needs to go and you put gas in the car on a long shopping trip or after a picnic or a trip to the park a car seat wetting is possible (or even fairly likely) in that situation. Even if Simon doesn’t do this on a particular shopping trip, etc. in this situation Ezra might because he’s still very much in training at this point. If my experience is anything to go by accidents like this are quite common for at least a year after daytime training at home has been completed.

Two toilet training suggestions that might help someone who is on the spectrum: 1. Get siblings (especially younger siblings) involved in the process. This is a good idea as long as the sibling is willing to help out and any help given is completely voluntary. A little over a day ago I rewatched the video about the shopping trip to Dollar Tree. This time I rewatched the video on my TV using the Chromecast. Only then did I realize how much better my TV’s sound is than my iPad even with good headphones. I am mentioning this because toward the very end of the video I noticed a detail that I missed on previous viewings. In the scene when you are in the garage just before you mentioned that he is “still training” (or something to that effect) and that “it comes with the territory” I noticed Marie saying something about helping Simon. To me this means at least one of two things. First, Marie might have been willing to help Simon to clean up after what happened earlier. Second, Marie might had Simon sit on the toilet and practice his training for a short time (e.g. between one and five minutes (but not more than that)). Simon and Marie seem to be pretty close and he may have sometimes felt less pressure trying for her than he would sitting there trying for you. The fact that they are both young probably helps with this. This wasn’t really an option back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when I was training because my sister was not interested (despite only a four year age difference) but with Simon and Marie it seems to work (given that she seems to be interested in learning some of the basic details of taking care of a younger sibling). On a related note I am wondering if some of Ezra’s feeding issues could be worsened by “nerves”. I already know that he has acid reflux. If he is also nervous about having to eat in front of you that might sometimes worsen the situation. If Marie (for example) helps out with feeding Ezra from time to time he might be more willing to eat for her. Naturally you will want to have an iPhone or other camera set up nearby to make sure that he actually eats if no one else is watching at the moment. This way you will know if the food is eaten that Ezra is the one eating it. This is important because sometimes if a sibling eats some of the food to show the other sibling how delicious the food is (in order to motivate the other sibling to try some) it is possible to overestimate how much food the one you are tying to feed actually eats. This was probably never an issue in my case because my sister rarely (if ever) got involved with either my toilet training or my feeding (or even feeding the family dog (or the Guinea Pig, for that matter) but that’s another story) but in some instances it can be important. Second 2. Celebrate and reward partial successes (if any occur). There are two ways that partial successes can occur. First: Especially if the child is close to being fully daytime trained he or she may have a partial wetting accident and be able to cut the flow maybe up to halfway through. In this instance the parent (or perhaps a sibling) can have him or her sit on the toilet and try to finish if possible. It is possible (especially if Simon only emptied himself out partway in his car seat and managed to cut the flow) that maybe Marie did this with Simon after the shopping trip to Dollar Tree. If so, then maybe he was able to “go” a little bit (perhaps even up to half way) for Marie and got an Oreo cookie (or other reward) in combination with a “good boy Simon!”, etc. from Marie. I noticed that Simon’s daytime training seemed to wrap up not long after this (aside from at least one one or two minor regressions in the scheme of things) so maybe events unfolded more or less how I pictured them. On a related note you could perhaps encourage such partial successes with Ezra and use them as part of his training. As soon as you are confident that Ezra understands the concepts of “peeing” and “pooping” you could have him sit on your lap (without a diaper on (so will know right away if he starts or stops going)) if he hasn’t “gone” in a while. While he is sitting there you could read a story to him about toilet training or perhaps watch a short video about it. During this video or story (or slightly after) you could have him try to wet on your lap for maybe about five seconds (to the count of five) and then see if he can stop the flow after starting. This might be useful if Ezra still doesn’t mind being wet (or perhaps even likes it). This way the wetness itself could actually serve as a reward. A little while after this (if he is able to successfully cut the flow after starting) you can have him sit on the toilet and finish there and get a cookie (or other reward) for finishing on the toilet. On a related note you will want to go over the concepts of “wet” and “dry” with Ezra (if you are not already doing this). Also in the regression section of this video you mentioned a “puddle in the corner”. Does this mean that Simon was beginning to hide before going shortly before he finished training? It is not quite clear from what was mentioned. Or did he just sometimes get too involved while playing with toy cars, blocks, legos, etc. while playing in the corner sometimes and have an accident here and there for that reason? If Simon was starting to hide then it’s possible that Ezra might start making some progress (however minor) soon (since he likes to hide before “going” sometimes and that is often described in books and articles (as well as many blogs) as sign of toilet training readiness. While I was training back in the late 1970s and early 1980s this was not an option for me because I only learned how to cut the flow after starting when I was about one to two years older that Ezra is now. Yes, I was actually nine to ten years old when I figured out how to do this even though most neurotypical kids learn this any time between ages two and five. This is probably because I was level two on the spectrum (I’m now level one) when I was younger. In addition I also have a very mild form of cerebral palsy and that also might have had some effect on this (although some doctors, nurses, etc. who I have talked to over the years don’t really know if that played a role in this or not). I have noticed that only a small number of toilet training books and articles (or even blogs) seem to mention the importance of celebrating partial successes. I have heard and read that the reason for this is that most toilet training books and articles (as well as many blogs) are geared toward getting a neurotypical child toilet trained. Since (typically) a neurotypical child will be more devious than an autistic child (although a few rare exceptions exist here and there there, especially in some instances of level one autism) the concern is that a neurotypical child will play games and maximize their rewards by “going” a little bit, finishing on the toilet, getting a cookie or other reward, and frequently repeating this to get as many cookies (or other rewards) as he or she wants. This type of devious behavior is quite rare for kids on the spectrum (even at level one) so for current purposes it is probably almost a non-issue unless a parent absolutely one hundred percent knows for a fact that a child on the spectrum is doing this. Second: The other way to celebrate partial successes is to have the child try to poop on the toilet after either a full or partial wetting accident. There shouldn’t be any pressure to this and he or she will only need to try for maybe five minutes at the most regardless of whether there are any results. If he or she is able to poop he or she can be rewarded for this (e.g. with a cookie). For now that’s about all I can think of on this subject.

I was just reviewing software defined networking and virtualization (including network virtualization) and one concept that came up over and over again was the concept of a container. The simple explanation is that a container is like a virtual machine but more lightweight. A virtual machine is (essentially) a computer within a computer. It is a program (such a virtualbox , VMware, or Parallels) that makes it possible to run one operating system on top of another operating system. For example if you needed to run MacOS and Windows on a Macintosh at the same time (for application compatibility reasons, for instance) a virtual machine would allow you to do that. Now back to the concept of containers. In an IT (Information Technology) context a container contains an application that needs to run and just enough of the operating system to run that one application (or perhaps in some instances a small group of applications). Now onto the concept of containers more generally and how I learned about them in everyday life. I first learned the word “container” and a few examples of it on a family vacation to Nantucket, Massachusetts when I was somewhere around three-and-a-half years old (give or take). At this point I was not yet toilet trained. In fact I had not even used the potty chair for the first time even though I had been introduced to it some time in the eighteen to twenty-four month range. I think by age two or two-and-a-half to at least three I knew the phrase “potty chair” but I didn’t know what it was for let alone how to use it. It was only after the trip to Nantucket that my mother was able to teach me the concept of what “peeing” was. Basically she would hold me on her lap (fully clothed, but without a diaper on) with the TV on (or when reading me a story) and she would make sure that I was well-hydrated. At some point my bladder would empty and she would sometimes essentially say “Look, Tommy you’re going pee-pee! Can you say pee-pee?” (Without any commentary or judgment). After a while (maybe a week or two?) I learned to repeat that. After that she would continue on with this but now whenever I went (or whenever it seemed like I needed to go) she would say something like “Go pee-pee Tommy! Go pee-pee!”. After a while of this training on her lap (maybe an additional week or two (for a total of two weeks to a month of practice)) she had me sit on the potty chair to practice. I think she could tell that I was still confused about what the potty chair was for because she told me to sit on it and then she explained that it was a container for holding my pee (which she explained means “pee-pee”) that I could use instead of her lap or a Pamper. After her explanation she said essentially “Go pee-pee Tommy, Go pee-pee!” and then completely by accident (I would later learn (in college Freshman year in the mid-1990s) that it was by conditioned reflex (sort of like Pavlov’s dogs)) I did. I still didn’t know how to use it voluntarily yet (that would come later) but at least I knew what it was for. After I turned four my mother had to do exactly the same process with me again to transition me from the potty chair (which was thrown away on my fourth birthday because I was now “too old for it”) and to teach me the mechanics of the bowel portion of my training. This included learning words and phrases like “poo-poo” and “Go poo-poo!” and “push/pushing”. This probably took me up to another month. After that I was ready to try it on the toilet instead of her lap. At this point it was explained to me that the big toilet was a container for holding my pees and poops (and an explanation of what that meant in terms of words that I already knew). Then it wouldn’t be long before I started using the big toilet voluntarily but I was still very much in training (even at home) for another year-and-a-half or so. Generalization (and learning to flush every time , always wash and dry my hands, etc.) would take quite a while after that. The bottom line is that I am on the spectrum (level one now, but I was level two when I was younger) and I had to be trained in the most concrete and step-by-step way possible to get there. For Ezra to learn what either a potty chair in his size or the big toilet is for he may need to learn other concepts (such as the concepts of “peeing”, “pooping”, “pushing”, and “containers” and some other concepts as well). Simon is fully toilet trained during the day but in order to understand what a portable urinal is for he might need to learn the concept of a container in a more general sense before he understands what to do with it. Until he reaches that point daytime wetting accidents are still possible (and even likely) in traffic jams or in any other situation where a rest room may not be readily available when it is needed.

Some suggestions regarding potty training, bike riding, and keeping things on track: It is good that Simon is both potty trained during the day and learning to ride a bike. One issue that I had when I was learning to ride a bike was getting too involved in what I was doing and not making it to the bathroom in time. I was about eight years old at the time (so twice as old as Simon). Part of the reason that this happened with me is likely that I was level two when I was younger. Simon is level one but even being trained for as long as he has it would not be uncommon for something like this to happen especially on longer bike rides. You can reduce the frequency of any such accidents by buying Simon a portable urinal (available at pretty much any drug store) and having it available for him to use should it be necessary in any location where restrooms may not be readily available. Something like a large towel or picnic blanket could help in any situations where he would need some level of privacy. That way he can be out of view when necessary to minimize any embarrassment (for example). A portable urinal might also help with Simon’s nighttime training when he starts to wake up dry. If for any reason (including not being able to get the bedroom door open in time, fear of the dark, etc.) Simon wakes up dry and can’t make it all the way to the bathroom the portable urinal will give him something that he can use instead of a pull-up, diaper, or something similar in these circumstances. That being said there will probably be some accidents anyway (for a while at least) just like in the bike riding scenario but this will make it possible to minimize these enough to avoid any significant regressions and at Simon’s age that’s the main objective. In Ezra’s case you will probably want to continue his toilet training at home for about another two or three weeks. Depending on where Ezra is in his training by then you might also want to have him ride the bike without a diaper on and get him a portable urinal of his own that he can use on bike rides (and other outdoor settings where a restroom might not be available) to keep accidents to a minimum. Maybe Simon and Ezra’s urinals can be kept in a back pack (or something similar) and they can use them during breaks after the bike stops as needed. For long car rides there are urinal bags available (usually on a drug store’s incontinence aisle) that can be placed inside the urinal to keep the risk of spills fairly low. I noticed those bags on the incontinence aisle at a Walgreens last year when I was walking down that aisle during the time that I was dealing with an 8 millimeter kidney stone and the wide variety of symptoms that it was causing. But that’s a whole other story. For now I think this covers the main observations that I have on this topic.

Some additional observations about potty training dos and don’ts: I was looking at some potty-training-related web sites earlier today and a little bit of yesterday (sort of a minor special interest of mine) and I noticed a couple of potty training ideas that might be useful for some readers even if they don’t necessarily apply to you. One idea that I saw mentioned was the idea of a potty chart on the wall that the child who is training can see. Back when I was growing up this was not done so I couldn’t see how I was doing from week to week. Your idea of a timer that the child can see is a good one for children who already have a basic understanding of time (as most potty training children probably do). If you mentioned a potty training chart it would have been a minor part of what was covered in the video and I don’t remember it from past viewings. It is a commonly used idea these days to the point where you can go to pretty much any online art site and enter the phrase “potty chart” or “potty training chart” and find either a photograph or an artistic rendering of one. In most renditions a drawing (or a sticker, perhaps) of a sun is used to represent a successful trip to the bathroom and a storm cloud is used to represent an accident. One suggestion I would make regarding such a chart is that such a chart should be for daytime toilet training only. I have also noticed from talking to some parents and grandparents that I know that potty charts seem to work best for neurotypical kids, produce some results for kids who are level one, and for kids who are level two or level three they may or may not produce any results. For example, a person I know has a grandson who is level two and she tried a potty chart with him the summer before last (for one entire month) when he was four-and-a-half. At both the beginning of the month and at the end he was only maybe twenty-five percent dry at best. Now he is doing much better (but still learning). This would seem to just be a result of the passage of time, (and perhaps a little bit of neurological development) though. With Simon being level one you might want to keep a combination of a daytime potty chart and a reward system in mind for the future if you notice any significant regression from him over the next couple of years. For now though he is trained and does not need these things at this time. Some artists portray a character having a nighttime chart to show them how they are doing and to (supposedly) motivate nighttime dryness. From what I have read bed-wetting is not typically caused by any motivational or behavioral issues. If that happens at all it would probably account for fewer than ten percent of all bed-wetting cases. Wetting at night out of laziness, anger, or spite is rare enough to be nearly unheard of. Therefore a night-time chart (while a popular idea in TV shows, movies, and other media) would likely not work for neurotypical kids let alone kids who are on the spectrum. Also regarding potty training and road trips. If you decide to take any road trips this summer it would be best for Simon to deal with any potty emergencies when on the road by using a portable urinal (if possible) when he is in the car. This won’t prevent all accidents but it should prevent most of them when he is awake. I also noticed from looking at Andrea Olsen’s elimination communication blog that she sells products to help keep car seats clean in the event of accidents. I don’t know if that idea (let alone the specific products) would work for someone older like Simon or Ezra (as an alternative to pull-ups, Easy Ups, Goodnites, or Ninjamas) but it is one idea that is worth considering. One word of caution, though. Products like these are not safe to use with all possible car seats (because the straps need to fit in a very specific way for safety reasons in the event of sudden starts and stops, car crashes, etc.). Consult the car seat’s documentation and reach out to the car seat manufacturer for any questions on this. Some car seat manufacturers can recommend specific products that have been tested (e.g. in crash tests) to work with their specific car seat. They may even sell such products on their web site (or through a catalog (if they still have one)). Regarding wetting accidents, etc. and learning in general on vacations/long road trips: In the event that one or both kids have a potty training regression during a long road trip/vacation this is not a time to put all learning on hold (Even if you end up putting toilet training on hold temporarily). For example I’m level one now but I was level two when I was growing up. On the trip to Old Saybrook, Connecticut at age four-and-three quarters that I mentioned in some earlier comments I had a toilet training regression but during that trip I learned about other things that were not related to this. For example, during that trip I learned about what washing machines were for, how to use a coin-operated washer and dryer, the differences between top-loading and front-loading washers, how to use an indoor shower and an outdoor shower, and what life preservers are for. For me that trip was almost certainly worthwhile even with the potty training regression that it entailed. After my family returned home it took anywhere from a week to a month (probably more like a month) for my daytime training to be (at least pretty much) back on track. The possibility of regressions like this is why I have suggested in past postings (and still suggest) that whenever possible any vacations and road trips occur in the first half of summer (at the latest) whenever someone is either recently trained (like Simon) or in the middle of training (like Ezra). This provides at least a couple of weeks to a month to get things back on track if needed.

Parents who are in the middle of toilet training or whose kids have recently trained may find it helpful when they are out and about to stop at a Starbucks for some of their bathroom breaks away from home. I seem to remember the Starbucks app having a store finder feature. In addition this time of year they have snowman cookies at many store locations that most kids will probably enjoy. The above is mostly true of standalone Starbucks locations. If a specific Starbucks is in a store or hotel then all bets are off (as the expression goes). Most Starbucks at standalone locations that I have been to have a toilet that is a good height for most sizes and ages. Also the toilets flush manually and quietly compared to most public toilets which is a plus especially when someone has auditory sensitivities. The one downside though is that you may need to remember to ask a Starbucks employee for the bathroom code (for the combination lock on the door) that changes as often as daily. Therefore in an absolute emergency this might not always work. This is a better option for routine bathroom breaks. Other small coffee shops might work in this scenario in most urban locations on the off chance that a Starbucks is unavailable. These coffee shops can be located using certain apps like Apple Maps and Google Maps.

When I was growing up I had some regressions at a later age than usual. I remember having a regression similar to what Simon had in this video when I was in third grade (age nine). This was just at the point when I was beginning to experience embarrassment. My mother noticed that I was constipated because I was at a garage sale and I was squatting down next to a tree and trying to soil my underwear. A short time after that I was still trying to “go” when I was sitting in the back seat of the car on the way home. Fortunately (in a way) neither effort produced any results. One of the last times that I did that previously (from what I can remember) was about three years earlier at age six under similar circumstances. I think it happened this late for me because I was level two by today’s standards. I was pretty much back to normal (or my version of normal) after my constipation was cleared up with a combination of drinking some prune juice and being given an enema.

It is very good that Simon is already saying thank you. I was at least nine years old (if not ten) (right around the age that I started to be able to experience embarrassment fairly consistently in certain situations) before I could say “thank you” (even with a reminder (like Simon does in this video)).

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I am currently studying for a computer networking exam that I hope to take within the next week or so and I think I am almost ready because almost everything I am reading about reminds me of computer networking. For example, I was reading about potty training on a web site last night (I don’t remember which one) when I was having difficulty sleeping and despite being very tired I started relating it to the concept of AAA in Enterprise Networking as it relates to logging in to an enterprise wireless access point (in this instance). AAA is an acronym that will be explained below. This relates to logging in to a network and permissions that one has after logging in. The first A is authentication. It is essentially the “Who are you?” question. At this point a device sends login credentials to a wireless access point (for example). The device (such as a pc,laptop,or tablet) is called the supplicant. The wireless access point is called the Authenticator ( for some reason) even though the actual authentication is delegated to the authentication server that the enterprise access point is connected to. The second A is authorization. If the authentication server decides that the login credentials are correct a message is sent to the access point to allow the supplicant to connect to it and access the network. The third A is accounting. This is the “What did you do?” question. In this instance the server keeps records of what the device did while it was connected to a network (If this has been configured). Being able to understand those three questions (or ones like them) is an important thing when one is toilet training. For example, the “Who are you?”question or “Am I the one being spoken to?” question in this instance is important to understand. I read in a blog some time back about a family who was on the road with their (presumably neurotypical) roughly three-year-old toddler son (or even up to three months older than that) who was maybe three months into his toilet training. They got stuck in traffic he needed to “go” and in a moment of exasperation/annoyance the mother yelled to the cars in front of her “Just go!”. The kid misunderstood and thought she was talking to him. Luckily he was wearing a pair of disposable training pants so no harm done. Mistakes like this are quite common with both neurotypical and autistic kids when they are new to toilet training. Regarding the “What am I allowed to do?” question this also relates to toilet training. Many times when I was learning I would be sitting in my car seat and think I had permission to “go”. This would sometimes happen until I was as old as five-and-half or so. For example, I would sometimes mention to my mother that I needed to go and if it was an inconvenient time my mother would say something like “That’s just great!” Or “Fantastic!” and I would let go thinking that I had permission. This happened because being on the spectrum I didn’t understand sarcasm yet. If Simon was still dry for a short time on the shopping trip where you went to Dollar Tree when he said “Oh no, Potty!” it is possible (even likely) that if you said something like “Great!” Or “Fantastic!” he might have thought that you were giving him permission to wet in his car seat. That would explain why he didn’t really seem to be sad or embarrassed at the end of that video. If he thought you gave him the go ahead then in his mind he would have still had a successful potty break (as opposed to a potty accident/potty failure) even though he was wet instead of dry that time. Regarding the “What did you do?” question Simon started training soon after he was able to answer that question. For example Simon was first able to answer that question with some prompting after his first day of preschool. Later on, during the day of the doctor visit he was able to tell you what he did without prompting. Shortly after this he trained fairly quickly during the day aside from maybe a regression or two here and there.

For me as someone with mild autism potty training took way longer for me. I think I was completely potty trained during the day at some point when I was 7 and became completely potty trained day and night when I was 8. I remember that I often wouldn’t even be able to communicate needing to use the bathroom at a lot of times and would often hold it during the day especially at school. Friends who were a few years younger than me were completely potty trained while I was still having accidents even during the day. Wheras for my older brother with severe autism he didn’t become fully potty trained until fairly recently. Even now he uses things as toilets that aren’t even toilets. He also went through a long phase of smearing #2 all over his room luckily he eventually learned not to do that by watching our dad clean it up. Hasn’t been doing it since. He also has a camping toilet in his room since he’s locked in his room at night. But I remember our parents would get very frustrated with us for constantly having accidents and sometimes even yell at us. One time a while back I was at a party that involved a sleepover that I couldn’t stay at because I was still having accidents pretty much every night and I was upset about that. I also had a chart about accidents I had at night and it varied for a while but eventually I got it and I’m glad that’s over with now.

It’s good that Simon uses the toilet very well during the day. How is Simon with communicating his needs in this area? Does he know the following phrases (and perhaps some like them). 1.”I want potty.” 2.”I went potty.” 3.”I’m going potty.” 4.”I have to go potty.” 5. The above phrases but the words pee (or pee-pee) or poo (or poo-poo) instead of “potty”. These phrases can be useful especially in unfamiliar locations away from home. Later on he can learn to ask where the bathroom is if he doesn’t already know the location of the bathroom (e.g. in a new park,store,etc.)

I just randomly remembered a few moments ago that when I was growing up (starting around Simon’s current age) that one thing that would often cause me to have wetting accidents (and sometimes even the other kind) was losing my balance and falling down. This would be even more likely if I ended skinning my left elbow, my left knee, or both. The right side of the brain is connected to the left side of the body (generally speaking, but the specific details are somewhat complicated). Given the damage to my right hemisphere from a stroke at birth this would often trigger sensory meltdowns that would sometimes lead to a wetting accident, a mess, or both. In my case this was definitely not just a result of getting distracted by the pain of a skinned elbow or a skinned knee. From what I remember skinning my right elbow or my right knee would virtually never have this effect. Therefore while being on the spectrum causes me to sometimes experience sensory overload in general the right side of my brain is more vulnerable to this than my left. This wasn’t just a result of being young either. One time when I was home during the college years (some time in my late teens or early twenties) I sprained my left ankle in my parent’s backyard and I started crying and my bladder started to empty. Fortunately I noticed this and I managed to stop the flow after maybe five seconds or so. The bottom line is that this is (I suspect) a symptom of right hemisphere damage that other people probably have also. I have yet to see anything in the literature on this topic, though. I’m guessing that this isn’t just something that I experienced. If you notice that Simon is more likely to have accidents (of either type) when he experiences pain on the left side that could indicate that he has damage and/or underdevelopment of his right hemisphere in addition to being on the spectrum. If he does turn out to have this a neurologist could suggest any additional steps that should be taken from here. Most likely he would have speech therapy and social skills training just like he has now. In addition they would probably add on physical and occupational therapies to improve right hemisphere development (which might provide some additional improvement in the understanding of body language and social skills). While doing this they will want to make sure that his speech and social skills continue to progress. For all I know (at the other extreme) overdevelopment of the right hemisphere might negatively affect speech so that is also something to be on the lookout for. You might need to go over some additional vocabulary with Simon (but without causing him too much stress) if his speech seems to regress a bit over the next couple of years. For the moment this pretty much sums up my thoughts and recollections on this specific topic.

It’s good that technology exists now to pause TV shows and movies. I didn’t have this at home in the late 1970s and early 1980s when I was still training and that almost certainly slowed the training process down a bit for me.

Regarding travel and regression: I watched your most recent video about the ski trip. It looks like on the ski trip there were at least two places where restrooms would have been available. Even so, the restroom situation would be less than ideal and some amount of accidents (and even perhaps some regressions) would be fairly normal. With Ezra being so new to toilet training you would probably see more regression with Ezra in this area than you would with Simon. Even so, Simon has only been trained since about October or November of 2023 so some level of toileting regression is still possible in situations like this. I have mentioned in past comments that in my own experience I would have accidents (and even some regression) on family vacations until I was at least six years old, almost seven. By today’s standards I was level two back then (I’m currently level one). After each vacation my toilet training would (at least typically) be back on track after no more than a month. My mother basically helped me with this after every vacation by using what is usually called the “pants and puddles method” today. It is pretty much what it sounds like. Basically I would not have a diaper on during the day no matter how many accidents I had. Shopping trips (e.g. to the grocery store) in this situation would be handled by having me wear a pair of shorts made of a thin material that liquid could easily flow through and then I would be sitting in the seat in the shopping cart on a folded bath towel, a beach towel, or even a picnic blanket with something plastic underneath like an old crib liner or a garage bag (for example) to absorb anything that might need to be absorbed. If my mother noticed an accident happening she would simply point out that I was peeing (or whatever I happened to be doing) without commentary, without judgement, and without punishment. The goal here was to improve awareness of what my body was doing so I could start to get my control back on track. During these (typically) one month periods I would usually be playing outside (weather permitting) or indoors in a room with a tile or linoleum floor so that any accidents that occurred would be easy to clean up. My mother would also watch me for “potty dances” or other indicators of having to go and take me to the toilet and encourage me to go there as much as I was able to in order to encourage as much daytime toilet usage as possible even during these regressions. In fashion I would typically get back on track fairly quickly (usually within a month at the most).

Potty training is hard! You got this tho😊

It’s good to hear that Ezra’s urine training seems to be pretty much complete. It looks like you went with the urine training first method with Ezra like what my mother did with me back in the late 1970s (back when I was three-and-a-half to four years old). My bowel training started at age four shortly after my parents decided that I was too old for the potty chair and threw it away. Now it’s time to get him bowel trained. If Ezra is struggling with the mechanics of having a bowel movement sitting down (or if he’s too nervous to do this on the toilet right now) you may need to have him practice this initially in other locations where he is more comfortable doing this than sitting on the toilet. Places where you can have him practice initially are in his high chair, in the car, or on your lap (e.g. on walks around the neighborhood). In order to keep things relatively clean you will want to put a diaper on him for this. Pull-on style diapers don’t work well for this (due to not having the best leak guards) so you will need to use the ones with Velcro fasteners(some vendors use the term “hook and loop” instead) or tape-on-style diapers for this. In the event that he doesn’t “go” right away you might be able to save money on diapers by looking for a product with tapes that can be refastened so you can try again later without wasting a clean diaper. Also to keep his clothes clean you will want to use a product with tall standing leak guards in his size. To determine the correct product size you will need to weigh him and measure his waist size. Sometimes correct product selection might require some additional measurements. The website for whichever product you are considering should have some details on this. If you are having him practice on your lap on walks around the neighborhood you may want to give him a snack to help things along. At this point you can have him push his feet against a large rock, a tree stump, or even your hands. If he still won’t poop in his diaper at this point you may need to give him verbal permission (and perhaps a small reward of some kind) to get him to “go”. If he does “go” he will probably also wet his diaper while doing this. Don’t worry about it, it won’t set his urine training back all that much. To keep his urine training on track during this process as much as possible you will want to put him right back into underwear after you clean him up. If your goal is to try for bowel training in a month or just over a month, you could do what I describe for two weeks. After the two weeks you can do essentially the same thing but have him “go” on the toilet with his diaper on at a time of day when he usually has a movement. Just like before you clean him up afterward and put him right back into underwear to keep his urine training as on track as possible. After the one month is over you then have him sit on the toilet without a diaper on in order to practice using the toilet the conventional way. After my urine training was completed this was fairly close to what my mother did to get me bowel trained. I took longer than this to get there but in my case I was dealing with level two autism (I’m level one now), mild cerebral palsy, and the effects of a right hemisphere stroke at birth. As far as I know Ezra is only dealing with autism so you may see results in as little as a month or so (with any luck). Given that he’s level three you may need to have him practice on the toilet without a diaper on for an extra month or two before he completely masters it. This process is one of the rare instances in which diapers can actually be used successfully as a toilet training tool. If Ezra has already outgrown the tape-on diapers in his size you can probably find something suitable in a medical supply store. If not then you can do some web searches for incontinence web sites. In this fashion you will likely find what you need in his size in the quantity that you would need. If there are any extras left over they could come in handy for long road trips, traffic jams, and certain other unusual situations where a rest room might not be readily available when one is needed.

Regarding shadows (especially moving shadows) distractions and accidents: I was talking to my mother on the phone a few days ago about some of the things that I remember from when I was toilet training and the subject of often not being able to pull myself away from an activity when I needed to “go” came up. I mentioned on the phone call to my mother that I remember some times when I was distracted by shadows on the floor when I needed to “go” and ended up having an accident. My mother confirmed that my recollection of being in the four to five-and-a-half age range when this happened was correct. One time in that age range I was playing with some toys in my sister’s room and I felt my bladder fill up. This wasn’t the experience of the feeling coming on gradually it was the sudden experience of going from nothing to having to go very soon (if not immediately). Normally I would have walked down the stairs to the downstairs bathroom at that point and I usually would have made it. There was an upstairs bathroom maybe ten feet away but my training was not yet generalized enough for me to be able to use that one just yet. In any event there were shadows on the floor from the tree outside of the back window. The wind blew through the branches and I started looking at the shadows and couldn’t pull myself away from them(especially now that they were moving). Pulling myself away from a shadow that was not moving was difficult enough (but I could sometimes do it even at that age especially if someone was there to help redirect my attention). After a while my bladder finally started to empty. Just as I was finishing up with that my sister came in to her room and saw what was happening and said over and over “You’re going to get in trouble! You’re going to get in trouble!” in that sing-song way that kids in the seven-to-nine age range often do. My sister is level one (I was still level two at that point (level one now)) but she was able to pass for neurotypical well enough (including avoiding the “monotone voice” stereotype by learning how to modulate her voice) that even at that age most people wouldn’t recognize that she has autism (she was only diagnosed by about age thirteen or fourteen). Needless to say after my sister walked down the stairs and told my mother about what happened and they both came up the stairs I was not in trouble because my mother already knew that I was on the spectrum (this was discovered during a neurological exam shortly after my two year checkup) plus I was still just learning. Even with Simon being level one it is possible (even likely) that he could occasionally have accidents while playing similar to what I described above (especially with him being trained so recently (within about the last five months at the most)). My mother was able to reduce the frequency of such accidents in the future by pulling the shades down in the room to eliminate most of the moving shadows and using light bulbs instead of natural light to illuminate the room instead. I am guessing that my sister eventually remembered that I was looking at the moving shadows when I was having my wetting accident and told my mother about this later on. You can try what I suggest above if you notice Simon starting to have more accidents (of any type) while playing indoors in situations like this. Similar situations/scenarios might also account for some of Ezra’s accidents with him being much earlier in the toilet training process (as I recall).

You’re right about avoiding potty chairs if at all possible. Some kids do actually need to toilet train twice if one is used. I know I was one of them. Here is essentially what happened to me. My parents started potty training me with a potty chair between 18 months and 2 years. It took until I was about three-and-a-half years old before they saw any results. Shortly after that I was basically trained on the potty chair. Then I turned four and my parents decided that I was too old for the potty chair and they threw it away. At that point I didn’t use any toilets for a long time. It might have been as long as two or three months. Even after this my re-training was just beginning and it took well over a year after that for me to be trained well enough to get into kindergarten. But that’s another story.

A note about toilet training, training pants, and traveling (e.g. over Thanksgiving or Christmas): It not uncommon for parents to use disposable training pants (such as pull-ups or easy ups) while traveling (on long road trips) on kids who are as recently trained as Simon is because a rest room may not always be available the minute that it is needed. Here are some tips that I have heard from parents and grandparents of recently trained kids that can be useful for keeping the car clean while minimizing any toilet training regressions. 1. Bring plenty of underwear and changes of clothes. You will likely need these even if it’s just because of possible motion sickness. 2. Another reason to bring plenty of underwear: To minimize the chance of a recently toilet trained child simply using the training pants like a regular diaper it is best to put a pair of underwear inside the training pants so that he or she will feel wet if he or she “goes”. To minimize the chance of leaking it is best to make sure that the underpants are completely inside the training pants including waistband and leg elastics (if at all possible). 3. Even if the child will mostly be using his training pants during trip it is best to maintain as much toilet training as possible by taking him to the toilet after meals and snacks at any rest area even if you are pretty sure that he has already “gone”. He doesn’t necessarily need to “go” but it necessary to try each time for up to three or even five minutes. 4. If at all possible only use diapers at night at the destination. 5. If the child will be swimming use swim diapers such as Little Swimmers or Splashers. These look like a bathing suit (sort of) while still providing any protection needed for any accidental “movements” (as it were) while swimming. This pretty much sums up what I have to say about training pants and traveling.

I think you mentioned in an earlier video that Ezra has some places in the house where he likes to hide to “do his thing” (as it were). From the sound of it he seems to be experiencing some level of embarrassment or self-consciousness especially when it comes to “going”. Almost all neurotypical children and many who are level one do this at some point during their toddler years. In my case (being level two when I was younger) I never went through the “hiding” phase. My sister is level one and she started hiding when she was no older than three-and-a-half to four according to my parents. I wasn’t born yet for most of this and was too young to remember her training for the small amount that I was around for. I think her training was pretty much finished (at least during the day) by the time I was six months old. If Ezra still likes to hide when he uses his diaper you could try getting either a camping or medical type potty chair in his size and placing it in one of his favorite hiding spots. With any luck you might already have some supplies for this left over from your RV days. If not, you can probably find what you need at a larger-sized pharmacy, at a medical supply store, or in a store that sells camping supplies. You can even have Ezra make the potty chair his own in some way even if it’s just something as basic as decorating it with stickers. As for what he should wear at home for this portion of his toilet training you should have him wear something with an elastic waistband like sweatpants or most of the pajama bottoms on the market for someone his age. Some other options include more regular style pants or shorts that just happen to have an elastic waistband. Under that he can wear underwear, a goodnite, a ninjamas, or pretty much anything that he can put on and take off himself. Goodnites (and similar products) can be a bit cheaper if they are bought in packages that contain a large number of them. Despite their name Goodnites are said to work well at nighttime and during the day. Also they come in enough sizes that Ezra will likely be able to fit in them for as long as he needs them (Goodnites go all the way up to around 140 pounds, currently). Ezra’s existing diapers will probably continue to work well enough when you are out and about (if they still fit). This pretty much sums up my observations on this subject for the time being.

Regarding timing my parents probably started training me too early. They bought the potty chair around eighteen months and (by their own admission) occasionally put me on it at random. They only started training me full time when my doctor said that all children are ready to toilet train on their second birthday. This was probably what doctors were told back in the mid-to-late 1970s. This checkup was just after that and I actually remember hearing the doctor say it. As it turns out I was not ready to even begin training for over another year. This was probably a combination of being born prematurely (and the complications from that) and the developmental conditions (likely at least partly genetic) that I needed to deal with that my doctors had either not noticed or didn’t think were significant.

I was just talking to my parents and my sister this evening and I was mentioning my memories of a family trip to Old Saybrook Connecticut in a cottage belonging to a friend of the family when I was very young. I mentioned that I must have been very young at the time because I remembered that one of my uncles bought his pickup truck shortly before that trip. My sister confirmed that this was in the Summer of 1980 but she couldn’t give an exact date because she wouldn’t start remembering specific dates and times for any new events for about another couple of years. Apparently her memory for dates developed over time. In the summer of 1980 I was about four-and-three quarters years old. I was mostly daytime trained at home but my training had not yet become generalized. That would only begin to happen about nine months later when I was in preschool. My parents and sister knew that I remembered this trip because I mentioned that the laundromat that we went to on that trip was the first time that I saw coin-operated washers and dryers. I even mentioned that I remembered that the reason there was so much laundry was because they were trying to generalize my toilet training at the cottage that we were staying at and it wasn’t working at all. If anything I was regressing a bit. Before that I would at least do a potty dance if I needed to go but on that trip I wasn’t even doing that. I am mentioning all of this because I was level two at that age and at the time of diagnosis Simon was level two on his social communication (or something like that, from what I remember from that video). This means that if you go on any trips to beaches or the like over the course of this Summer Simon can and probably will regress a bit in his toilet training (even though he is daytime trained right now, and has been for probably at least four months by now). Therefore on a trip like this you will probably want to have Simon use the restroom before getting ready to swim (if possible) and then put a Little Swimmers, Splashers, or other swim diaper on him just in case. They will probably still fit him at that age but you will want to check the Pampers and Huggies web sites for the weight limits on these products to make sure they will be workable. If they are not products both cloth and disposable exist for all sizes (including adult sizes). These are mostly available from various companies online. Also you will want to reinforce toilet usage as much as possible (even if you might need to temporarily go back to a reward system during the trip). Also (if at all possible) you will want to keep these trips to the first half of Summer just in case Simon and/or Ezra’s toilet training slides a bit and a certain amount of retraining is needed before the next school year begins in the Fall. This is important because my sister and I both had some level of Summer regression during preschool, kindergarten, and at least most of the grade school years. I have also seen in a number of online videos that Summer Regression (of varying degrees) is quite common at all autism levels. For example I think autism family made a reference or two to it in some of their videos (at least regarding speech and social skills), but currently I don’t remember much beyond that.

Here’s another toilet training skill that parents sometimes (or even often) overlook: Children are usually taught fairly quickly that “#1 and #2” go into the toilet. Then one day the child experiences nausea and vomiting and doesn’t know what to do. This can lead to some fairly predictable results. Sometimes one or more parent will erroneously think that knowing what to do in this situation is “just common sense” because they know what to do and they don’t remember a time when they did not know what to do in this situation. This happened to me on Thanksgiving when I was six years old and I was car sick and also the dinner did not agree with me. After that I knew that it was necessary to head to the bathroom if I felt nauseous.

If you want to work specifically on the standing up portion of urine training with Ezra you could have him use the bathtub instead of the toilet for this portion of his training. This could allow him to make the transition to using urinals in public restrooms (or at school) much more easily. My parents did not do this with me but I have read on some miscellaneous sites around the internet that some people have had some success with this when absolutely nothing else has worked. Also a friend of mine managed to get one of her grandsons just toilet trained enough for school in this fashion. He is in first grade now and most of the time he seems to manage well enough toilet-training wise. In addition if he is given a large breakfast early enough in the morning he will generally poop in his diaper in a timely enough fashion to be changed before he needs to go to school. Therefore his lack of bowel training is not actually a deal-breaker when it comes to him going to school (at least at his current grade level). He does still need to wear an Easy-Up, Goodnite or Ninjamas to school just in case. On the plus side he’s able to change himself if he’s only wet so in practice his incomplete toilet training is currently not as much of an issue as one might expect. If all else fails (or if you need to work with a very short deadline for some reason (such as possible enrollment in a new school)) maybe this could be enough to get Ezra to the point of being well-enough-trained for current purposes until he eventually completes his toilet training at a later date.

Underpants with designs on them are definitely a good idea. When I was training my parents did not think of this and they bought me plain white underwear. Due to being on the spectrum and some other developmental conditions I confused these underpants with diapers for quite some time because to me they looked and felt a lot like diapers. I think I only really started training in a significant way when I had a combination of underpants with colors other than white that I could choose from and underpants with designs on them. Back when I was growing up they had underoos (or however they spelled it).

Andrea Olson (I mis-spelled her last name in some earlier comments) has a video about “Getting Baby to Signal” on her KZfaq channel. Some of the other videos (or podcast episodes) that she mentioned in that video might also be potentially relevant for someone around Ezra’s toilet training level (or perhaps even earlier in the training process). Some of her tips in that video might also help with getting him to sign in general (even for things like being hungry or tired, or asking for certain specific food items). Even though Ezra is eight years old (he’s not a baby or toddler anymore) some of the techniques in that video might still be useful for him. I was just reading on a web site earlier today (I forget which one) that elimination communication techniques can work on kids with special needs (all the way up to at least age ten years) when other methods have not worked. This can be true whether someone has Down’s Syndrome, severe (level three) autism, or even some other conditions not listed here that might result in traditional toilet training methods not working at the expected time (if at all).

Regarding the use of the word “independent”: When I was younger one mistake my parents (especially my mother, but not exclusively) made was to almost exclusively use the word “independent” to mean “stubborn”. Therefore it was not uncommon after I had an accident (at any age) and was cleaned up for my mother to pick up the phone, call her mother, and tell her that I was probably never going to be toilet trained and that I was being really “independent” lately. For most of the time that this happened I was not embarrassed by this just confused. My ability to feel embarrassed only started to work when I was about nine years old and became more consistent around ten or so. I guess this is probably a result of being level two on the spectrum back then. Even at that age I was still having some daytime accidents of both kinds and my mother would call her mother to complain about it and say some things along the lines of “I thought he was finally potty trained but I guess I was wrong!”. Those accidents were actually embarrassing but not the ones when I was younger. I finally stopped having daytime accidents (of both kinds) by the end of grade school (about age eleven). Many of those were a result of getting too involved in playing or other activities. Before that with each year accidents became less common but they still happened from time to time. In short if you use the word “independent” try not to use it to mean “stubborn” at least not when you are toilet training at least one kid. At best it is confusing. As you might imagine I only ended up learning the main use of the word “independent” many years later when I learned about the Declaration of Independence in eighth grade history at about age fourteen. I previously heard the primary use of the word independent from the elf who visited the island of misfit toys with Rudolph in the Rankin Bass special each Christmas season but even though I remembered the special pretty much verbatim after only a viewing or two that particular use of the word “independent” still didn’t register with me for a long time. That pretty much sums up my observations on the use of the word “independent” for the time being.

Here is an example of a mistake that my mother sometimes made when I was being toilet trained but I was a bit older (toward the end of my toilet training): Starting when I was around Simon’s current age (and continuing until just before kindergarten (at nearly age six)) during walks around the neighborhood or while playing in the backyard I was more or less expected to try to wait to get to the toilet without being reminded. Sometimes I would remember to do this but even on a good day I was maybe 50 percent on this (based on what I remember and what other people in my family remember about this). In the playtime scenario I would get involved in playing with a toy car (for example) or something similar like a toy truck and while this was happening I would often “go” (in either or both fashions) without noticing it. I noticed that Simon got at least one gift along these lines on his birthday this year. Therefore if he gets involved enough in his play this could (at least theoretically) happen while he is playing (even though he’s been trained during the day for a number of months now). With Ezra still being in the middle of toilet training this is even more likely to happen with him. In the walk around the neighborhood scenario I would sometimes get uncomfortable and stop walking without really understanding why I was uncomfortable. At this point I would often instinctively spread my legs, bend my knees, squat (or even do all of these). Then my body would automatically take care of whatever it needed to while I was consciously doing something else like looking up at the color of the sky, a passing cloud, or something else in the distance. From what I have been told by other family members it looked to them like I was doing this deliberately even though I actually didn’t realize what was happening (it was still often completely instinctive at this point). During both of the scenarios above I was no longer wearing Pampers during the day except on long car rides, during some longer shopping trips (that were longer than a quick trip to the grocery store to grab a few things), and at preschool because I was only sometimes able to use an unfamiliar bathroom even at that point. The mistake my mother would make at this point (when I was wearing underwear and she noticed that an accident was in progress) is that instead of saying something like, “Look, Tommy you’re going pee-pee (or poo-poo) can you say pee-pee (or poo-poo)?” like she did when I was slightly younger she would instead ask the much more vague question of “Is someone (or somebody) going pee-pee (or poo-poo)?” At this point I virtually always either said nothing or (very rarely) give the wrong answer (which at the time my mother interpreted as my first lies (even though I would actually only start understanding the concept of lying at age seven-and-a-half when I was in first grade (and understand it better the following year in second grade)). As it turned out I was actually at least nine years old (if not ten) before I was able to tell my first (very unconvincing) lies). I guess either a doctor or nurse or someone in my family must have told my mother that her question to me was too vague because she eventually went back to using the older more detailed questions (and pointing to the puddle on the ground that was forming when this occurred) and my toilet training soon started to get back on track. On a related note if Simon starts to have some accidents (of either or both types) again (which would be pretty common at his age (even some neurotypical four-year-olds (and a smaller number of neurotypical five-year-olds) do this for a while)) it doesn’t need to be a completely negative experience for him. You could use the experience to work on vocabulary words with him (such as “puddle”, “wet”, “dirty”, “stinky”,”smelly”,”yellow”,”brown”, “warm”, “cold”, “itchy”, “accident”, or other words that tie in with the event). For example, if Simon doesn’t know the word “puddle” yet you could point out that he’s peeing (as I describe above) without any judgment or negative commentary and then wait for him to finish up with that. After he finishes “going” and is able to focus on something else you can then point to the puddle and say (without commentary or judgment) “Look, Simon you made a puddle can you say puddle?”. If the accident is an avoidable one you will want to remind him (after any necessary cleanup) that pee and poop go in the potty (or toilet) and to remember to use the toilet next time. By the end of Summer after kindergarten and during the beginning of first grade I started to ask for the bathroom when I needed it more consistently and accidents (of both kinds) started to drop off significantly. It was only by some time around the end of grade school (around fourth or fifth grade (age ten or eleven)) that my daytime accidents completely stopped and I was consistently clean and dry at night and no longer needed nighttime diapers. I think my mother made the mistake above because even though I was diagnosed (shortly after my two year checkup) as being on the spectrum (level two by today’s standards) and also having right hemisphere damage from a small stroke around the time I was born it was only mentioned that I had difficulties with communication (At this point I only knew how to say the words “Moon”, “Cat”, and “Clock”) and social skills but it was all in medical jargon and my parents didn’t understand it. They were at least given a mania file folder with papers explaining (in medical jargon) what I have and that’s how they eventually got me into some special education classes. My parents assumed that I understood more than I did (beginning around Simon’s current age) because I was able to say “Hi!” and “Bye!” and sometimes use single words to ask for something that I wanted. They also initially doubted my diagnosis because back in the late 1970s and early 1980s there was the idea that if you were autistic that you couldn’t talk at all. At least Rain Man and St. Elsewhere (as bad as they were) helped to correct that misconception. By the time I was four-and-a-half I was able to ask basic questions like “What’s that?” but it came out sounding more like “What that?”. I was more like five years old (or even five-and-a-half) by the time I learned pronouns like “I”, “you”, “he”, and “she”). Other pronouns and compound words (such as “hot dog”) would come later. This pretty much sums up my memories and observations on this topic for the time being.

I probably would have finished my training more quickly if my parents worked on generalization with me. Instead I was only trained on the potty chair initially. Then the downstairs toilet at home. Next the downstairs and upstairs toilets. About a year later at age five-and-a-half I was able to at least sometimes use the toilets at preschool. By kindergarten at almost age six I was able to use the toilets mentioned above and the toilets at both of my grandparents houses (as well as the ones at the school where my kindergarten class was). Using other toilets was something that I needed to learn one toilet at a time until I started first grade (at almost age seven). By that point I was pretty much able to generalize at least when it comes to this area of my development.

The thing that Simon is drawing on reminds me of an Etch-a-sketch. I started using one of those when I was very young. It might have been during potty training, or it might have been later. I’m not completely sure which at the moment. This might be a good toy to consider if you want a child to be able to draw while sitting on the toilet without the possibility of dropping a pencil, crayon, or stylus into the toilet.

On the subject of potty training songs, I just noticed one of the potty training songs from Bebefinn. That song was to the tune of “She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” and it contained the lyrics “Poo poo poo”. I’m guessing that’s probably why Simon would sometimes say “poo” three times instead of one or two back when he was first learning. It’s a pretty popular potty training song so he probably saw that video at some point. He seemed to pretty much train during the day within about three months after that so maybe those songs helped him to some degree. If that was one of the songs that helped Simon I wonder if it could also work for Ezra (even though he’s not really talking yet, aside from sometimes saying something like “Mama”).

Sometimes when kids are in the middle of toilet training (or have just started) (or occasionally even after being trained for a while) wetting and/or soiling can be a coping mechanism or a form of stress relief. For example this could be what was happening after Simon’s first day of preschool, and just before the doctor’s visit when the strap on the braces for his feet needed to be adjusted. As Simon’s training improved (e.g. by the time of his preschool field trip) he understood (at least at that particular moment) the difference between diapers and underwear and he realized that he was no longer supposed to “go” in his car seat when he was stressed out. Therefore that’s likely why he was chewing on his plastic sandwich bag about a minute into that video. Simon is level one and likely doesn’t typically experience as much stress as Ezra does and therefore doesn’t chew as often as Ezra. You probably already know that Simon and Ezra are not the only autistic kids who deal with stress by chewing (or biting) on things. For example, if you have been watching some of the Autism Family’s recent videos you will notice that Alistair has been toilet trained for a bit over a year (maybe about a year-and-a-half now). That’s good, but now that he no longer has wetting or soiling available as coping mechanisms that he can draw on he is chewing more than he used to. This includes chewing or biting on his hand. Incidentally with Simon being recently toilet trained you will need to watch him for this and intervene if he begins to perform this type of stimming. This will likely be especially true as his nighttime toilet training progresses. As soon as he no longer has bed-wetting (or even perhaps nighttime soiling) available as a stress relief mechanism you may notice a significant increase in stimming (in all of its forms) with Simon. On one of the Autism Family’s videos I suggested in one of the comments that Alistair could possibly suck on a lollipop (such as a Tootsie Roll Pop) or chew on some chewing gum as an alternative to biting his hand. This is also a tip to keep in mind in the event that Simon begins to do this. By the way it just occurred to me that Alistair may be chewing on his hand instead of his chew toys due to dental pain. This is likely the case if Alistair has gum recession or any exposed dentin. You may want to mention this at some point to the autism family when you meet or other talk with them if the subject comes up for any reason. I have noticed that Alistair’s speech seems to have come along quite a bit lately but this doesn’t necessarily mean that he can communicate about dental pain, stomach aches, ear aches, headaches, and the like. It has been a while since they have uploaded a video about where Alistair is verbally so I don’t know how well he can communicate these things. From what I remember he talks more than Simon does but that may or may not include an improved ability to verbally communicate if he is in pain versus where Simon is at this point (for example). Conceivably (despite their age difference) they might both still use phrases like “No Owie” even though Alistair is in Elementary school and has a larger vocabulary than Simon and speaks in sentences more often than Simon does. When I was six years old in kindergarten I knew the names of many objects and was able to say some sentences, and even ask some questions here and there but I still wasn’t able to tell people when I was in pain (let alone what was hurting). For example at age six I had an ear infection but I wasn’t able to tell my parents what was hurting. I was just able to put my hand over my ear and cry until my mother knew what was wrong and took me to a local hospital that evening. Within a hour or two after that I was home with some liquid Tylenol and a liquid antibiotic that sort of tasted like bananas. Since Alistair started talking about one to years later than I did (as I recall) his verbal communication could be about where mine was at age six. If so then his family, school, and any therapists might need to work on this aspect of verbal communication with him. Chances are they are already working on this, but they haven’t uploaded all that many videos lately so who knows? Also if Ezra has any gum recession and/or exposed dentin it may hurt for him to chew on things that are hard. This may be why he chews on his shirt and perhaps other soft things like blankets, towels, and perhaps even picnic blankets or table cloths. Ezra is not talking yet so we can only guess about this for now. This pretty much sums up my observations on this for the moment.

It's so good to see Simon doing so well. At what age he started saying "Yes/No" to your questions? When did you start potty training for him?

A timer probably would have helped me when I was first learning. From what I can recall parents weren’t really doing this back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A step stool and training seat with a step ladder would have been a good thing for my parents to have back when I was training in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s. If these were available back then I might have trained months or even a year or so more quickly than I did.

Some of my early memories of using the big toilet in the downstairs bathroom at my parents house consisted of sitting on my mother’s lap and having her hold me while I was on the toilet. Back then they didn’t have potty seats (or something more basic like a potty ring) like they have today. I also wonder if something like a step stool and a potty ring might be a safer alternative to the potty seat that he is using right now, given that at least one product review questions whether Simon’s potty seat is safe to use even for as little as six months (even for someone only two years old). Some parents might find this (sitting on mom’s lap) technique to be useful if they don’t have a potty seat yet. Back in the late 1970s this type of product might not have existed yet (or at least my parents didn’t know about them) and my mother had to resort to this technique even when I was up to two or three months past my fourth birthday. You might need to get Simon used the lap method that I mentioned above if his current potty seat begins to show signs of wear and tear before he outgrows it. Also, I’m probably not the only person wondering if you take Simon’s potty seat on trips to the park, grocery stores, malls, department stores, etc. or whether you have some alternative method for dealing with that situation without having to resort to diapers or training pants during daylight hours.

Do you recommend a specific potty training book. When did you begin the process of potty training for Simon?

I have had my grandson since he was 2 months and is now 3. Would have never guessed it as a baby, but it seems, 2 ,was when it became obvious something wasn't right. Everything you have said are signs....multiply by 10. He has been the happiest baby\toddler you could imagine.....but, he has hit a stage that he is angry and boy can he scream... I can change the mood pretty easy, I sit and hug him,rock him sing his favorite song, Eskimo kisses ECT... But being non verbal, it is so hard. I've\we have been learning sign language together. Basics--milk, blanket, thank you, definitely have a long ways to go...potty training don't seem possible at this time, no interest at all. I'm sorry if I seem to be babbling. You are the first person I actually like, and have watched several videos all the way through. Thank you! I will continue watching when I can. I almost forgot, I have a question if anyone can help me understand it?!?! No matter what he is upset with, he comes and hits me. Never in all my years would I allow this, ever..But it is so different, I can't explain it. It is just the two of us, but if family visits and he gets mad for some reason, or if I don't let him have something, he always heads straight to me and starts hitting? Anyone understand why this is? Thanks in advance🙂

While potty chairs (and the like) are usually not all that helpful when it comes to toilet training they might be helpful for some children (whether autistic or neurotypical) who might not use a toilet initially for whatever reason despite all of a parent’s best efforts. Earlier today I saw a picture of a urinal that is green, sort of looks like a frog, and attaches to a bathroom wall with suction cups that kids can use while learning to “go” standing up (specifically when they are learning how to use a urinal). The product is listed on some sites as being suitable for kids ages six and under but it might work for someone as old as Ezra if the product has sufficient capacity. I do not know how many milliliters (let alone cups) of liquid it can hold, though. Depending on where Simon is in the process of learning to “go” standing up it might also be helpful for him to practice with if he has not already learned this from his father or one of his older brothers. To put things in perspective I only started to learn this at about age four-and-a-half (a good six months older than Simon is right now). But then again I was level two at that age and Simon is level one so he will likely master this standing up part of the process sooner than I did (if he hasn’t already). I forget the specific name of this product but you can often find it on most of the popular e-commerce sites by simply searching for the phrase potty chair and scrolling down until you find it.

On the subject of being uncomfortable when wet if you decide to have Simon wear a diaper when he sees Santa (preferably in the evening close to bedtime) you will want to make sure that it is not something too absorbent like a Pamper or a Huggies. If you have ever seen the movie a Christmas Story you may remember that a kid who looked be around Simon’s age (give or take) was implied to have had an accident just before Ralphie sat down. When Ralphie was growing up disposable diapers would not have been invented yet, so what happened in that instance cannot be blamed on disposables. The bottom line is that accidents on Santa’s lap are quite common at Simon’s age (even for neurotypical children who have been trained for a while). Therefore you will probably want to have Simon wear a diaper this time around when he sees Santa. To minimize the effects of this on his daytime training you will want to have him see Santa in the evening in his pajamas with his nighttime diaper on. That way even if he “goes” one or even both ways it shouldn’t be enough of a departure from his usual nighttime routine to set him back all that much (if at all) in his daytime toilet training. If you ever tried the name brand products mentioned above with Simon you may have found them to be too dry (at least after the first bladder void). I don’t have any kids and haven’t used Pampers or Huggies myself since the 1980s but I have read in some online reviews that the main issue with these name brand product for kids who are still training (or are very recently trained like Simon is) is that they work too well and kids might lose some of their toilet training if these products are overused. You will also want to remind Simon that the diaper is just there for accidents. If he has an accident (or even appears to have an “on purpose”) of either or both kinds in this situation don’t punish him. After all even kids as old as Ralphie in A Christmas Story can be afraid of Santa sometimes. Instead tell him that if he stays clean and dry until he gets home he can have a special snack or dessert. This should give him a good incentive to not use the diaper unless he actually needs to.

As a child we had no clue that id possibly got aspergers but at 3 id say pot pot gir potty or toilet but when i started school fine during day but mum had to put covers for me to lsy on at night but i think i grew iut of it at about 9 or 10 years old now i think rrmembering to dronk enough water or fruit and veg to help with no twos ❤

Yea, Simon! My boys HATED being wet or messy. One morningmy wife noticed that number 1 son had not peed yet, so she put him on the potty and amused him till he did. When he discovered he could go without getting wet, he was all for it. He is 31 now.

Some parents and grandparents that I know have found that shorts with an elastic waistband (similar to what you would find on a bathing suit) can be useful during the early days of toilet training.

If you have seen the Rugrats episode “Chuckie vs the Potty” Chuckie mentioned that the things that he tried to do instead of using the potty included pooping in his room and hiding it in his toy box, putting napkins in his pants and using them like a diaper, and trying to stop pooping altogether. It sounds like Simon at least didn’t do the first two of these but he did do the third. I have read in books, articles, and blogs that many kids (including some neurotypical ones) get confused for a while during toilet training and think that they are not supposed to poop at all so they just hold it and become constipated. Maybe that’s what happened to Simon in the part of the video about regression. I don’t remember doing this myself when I was younger, but who knows, I might have.

Possible potty seat safety issues: I just looked at the Amazon reviews for the potty seat that Simon is using (using the link provided in the video description for this video) and one of the reviews states that the product fell apart after no more than 6 months and that it resulted in their two-year-old being injured in a fall. That review warns users about the potential dangers of this product. In addition, other users (and the product description) mention that this product doesn’t fit all toilets. Therefore this product might be good for some people (at least in the very short term) but not others. Hopefully Simon will outgrow this product before it wears out. If the more negative product reviews are even remotely accurate you will want to check Simon’s potty seat on a regular basis for any signs of wear and tear and consider replacing it if you have any questions about it.

Ive only been following your damily for a short time. Did these steps work for Ezra? My son is very similar to Ezra, and potty training feels like it may never happen.

Aww

I was just reading online that kids on the spectrum (including kids with level one autism) need an average of 1.6 years of training to stay dry during the day and over two years of training for bowel accidents to end (even during the day). Since Simon started training at age three-and-a-half that means that on average you could expect him to have some daytime wetting accidents even after his fifth birthday. In addition, based on those same figures you could expect Simon to have some bowel accidents even at age five-and-a-half during the day (or slightly older). If Simon continues to perform significantly better than this during the day even up to that point it either means that you are very lucky with how things went with him or that the toilet training methods that you have used with him are much better than the alternatives that people usually use. I found the figures above using some AI and the main source that it cited was Autism Speaks so you might want to take those figures with a grain of salt but it at least gives an idea of the average figures for this that are out there on the internet (for what it’s worth).

What my mother did to keep me busy on the potty chair was to read me some children’s books (fairy tales and nursery rhymes mostly) and she sang songs to me like Itsy Bitsy Spider.

What’s it called when your looking for one?step with the ring?x

It’s good to see that Simon understands the phrase “Where is it?” Is he also able to ask questions like this?

I heard Ezra takes his clothes off to take off his diaper. He doesn’t seem to like it, besides I heard regular diapers affect potty training due to the child being unable to tell if they peed or pooped, have you tried cloth diapers or underwear. It seems like Ezra doesn’t like anything too bulky, so maybe change what he wears as diapers of regular material. This would help with not just Simon, but Ezra too. I actually worn a diaper as an adult for a week due to poor bladder control, and TMI alert, but I could tell what it felt like. Not only bulky, but physically annoying (the best I can describe it is like real sheep wool mixed with polyester and plastic shopping bags on your covered area, so itchy) and when I peed in it, I mistaken it for poop, and it took me back to when I was younger and wearing it at night and I soiled it in my sleep. Also have you identified why potty training such a problem with Ezra. Ask yourself these questions 1) Can Ezra communicate the need to go? 2) Can he tell when he needs to go? 3) Is there anything he doesn’t like about being in the bathroom (examples: cold floor toilet seat or water, hot water, slimy or icky soap, strong smelling soap shower supplies or even their own number one or two, the bathroom light being too bright, etc) 4) Does he show any of the signs of readiness you mentioned? 5) Any gut issues that may affect potty training such as diarrhea or constipation (you don’t have to tell me what they are, just say yes or no) 6) Does he have the gross motor skills and the self care skills to do so? I don’t mean to go in your business. Sorry

If they had potty training videos back in the 1970s and 1980s I might have trained more quickly than I did.

I was just looking at a computer networking exercise about EUI-64 interface identifiers in IPv6 and I noticed that the MAC address in the exercise had several consecutive “D’S” in it. When I saw this it felt very familiar. At first I thought back and thought it would be networking related but it wasn’t. Then I thought maybe it was related to when I was learning spelling or the alphabet. Again it wasn’t. Finally I remembered what it was. One day when I was (I think) around nine years old I was riding in the back seat on the way home from some garage sales. I knew my stomach wasn’t feeling very comfortable and I was making a sound that sounded like “D D D D D D D D” over and over. My mother asked me if I was constipated but I couldn’t answer her because I didn’t yet know what the word meant. After we got home she explained what the word meant. Then she gave me an enema and it turned out that she was right about me being constipated. She knew even before I did. I guess I must have made that sound before in that situation one or more times and just not remembered it for some reason. I have only met a few other people who made that sound (like saying the letter D over and over again) when they are constipated and both told me that they are either autistic or were about to be evaluated for autism. Therefore if you hear Simon or Ezra make that sound over and over again who knows it might be constipation. I wouldn’t necessarily use enemas or suppositories right away but prune juice, dates, figs, or apricots might help in a situation like that. The only downside of this that I can think of is not knowing when it will work. Therefore for situations like this even though Simon is toilet trained during the day and Ezra is being toilet trained you might want to have some cloth training pants and/or cloth diapers and plastic pants in Simon and Ezra’s sizes for emergencies such as this (or for any other potential lower GI issues, possible UTIs, or other situations where control might be temporarily more limited than usual). Gerber makes cloth diapers that are sold in Target and online. If needed they can presumably be sewn together with a sewing machine to make them bigger. Bath towels (for example) can also be made into cloth diapers in a pinch if needed.

It’s good that you used Oreo cookies as a reward for Simon instead of M&Ms. If you had used M&Ms instead mishaps like the one on that shopping trip to Dollar Tree some months back would have likely been much more common and Simon might not have reached his current level of training as quickly as he did.

Where can we get this training seat

I have read that multiple signs exist for indicating a need to “go”. I don’t know much sign language but I have read that a sign exists for “toilet” that sort of looks like the letter “T”. Maybe Ezra can learn that sign as he comes along more with his training.

what was the clip from when the guy says unbelievable just curious same goes with the guy who says I didn't make it

❤❤❤

How’s he at night for he still where pampers at night still or does he get up if needs to go. Accidents will happen here and there the number 2 might be harder to work on I bet is he afraid of the flush when I was his age the flush really scared me it was sensory I guess at the time

Here’s another potty training don’t that I don’t remember seeing in this video: That is “Don’t use words for #1 and #2 that are too similar to other words that the child is already using.” It occurred to me on the way back from dinner that you seem to have avoided this potential pitfall with Simon out of good luck (from the looks of it). It is fortunate that you taught Simon the words “pee-pee” and “poo-poo” even though they are technically “baby talk words” because they are virtually impossible to mistake for any other words both for him and for the listener. It would have been quite easy to pick a different and potentially confusing word like “caca”. If you had done that instead you might have ended up in a situation where Simon would be asking for a bathroom break and you would think that he was asking for one toy car, then another, etc (since it also kind of sounds like “car car”). You can imagine the results that that might have had. This is something to keep in mind in for the future when he gets closer to kindergarten or first grade age and the time eventually comes to teach him more grown-up words for having to use the rest room.

I’d join ASD club, because I’m autistic, except for the fact that I’m still learning money responsibilities (because of intellectual problems), and I have a lot of impulse control issues on top of that because I have ADHD as well, so my mom isn’t letting me get a credit card for those reasons.

I have an idea. If Simon goes to the toilet completely independently during the day without warning. However, she still wears a diaper to sleep at night. It is worth putting a few diapers in a treasure toy chest. And the next morning, in the treasure chest, there would no longer be diapers, but Simon's favorite toy, toy cars. And in the little chest there would be a message that if Simon doesn't have a diaper at night, the Christmas elves will put something else in the chest. For Ezra, the motivation is Bili training, nice wrapping paper and pieces of cable. Photographic drawing with visual aids.

Also, we would like a video about trying to potty train level 3 child. Just to share your experience with Ezra so far. Maybe it could help us and others.

How did you do it if he’s not saying we poo? Wet?xx

Maybe after Thanksgiving you can do a video about Thanksgiving. Also, after Christmas you can do a Christmas video.

How does Ezra do with potty training??

When I was training my parents did not know to look for “the potty dance”. Therefore I was just taken to the potty chair (and later the toilet) randomly. I eventually trained but it took much longer than it probably needed to.

how do you help another household potty train a middle -schooler, is there neg. reinforcement that might be causing this??

How old is your son? And have your son seen Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous?

Glad you potty trained Simon but what about Ezra

How often did you put him on the potty when you started?

Is Ezra potty trained? Congrats Simon!! My grandchild is 3, autistic and non verbal. We are wondering how to potty train him. Being wet doesn't bother him.

Potty training can help infants and toddlers learn how to use the toilet at home, or in a public bathroom. 🚽

I have the step seat too but he refuses to use it

Gratulation Simon no Diaper day and no diaper Night! And Ezra gratulation no diaper day and no diaper Night!