BTW I think the comment that hurts the most is that as a Mom I'm not trying hard enough. I've trained his older sister, no problem. With autism it's a completely different playing field. Thank you for doing these videos. You have the gift of compassion for us parents

I’m watching this for my baby brother and I learned a lot and maybe I can be a better brother and friend to what he needs and wants

Couldn't sleep again last night because worrying about my 5 yr old nonverbal son not being potty trained. Thank you for your kind words of reassurance. There's so much pressure and stigma. I'll need to watch this video more than once

My son is 5 and has autism...and quarantine helped me Complete potty train him. I didn’t use rewards I just got rid of the pull-ups put him on the potty every 20 minutes daily for about 2 weeks, and I would wake him up once through the night...while using his speech device so he could ask, and he caught on...now he just goes into the bathroom or points or asks on his speech device. He has the occasional accident but they are far and few. He can now sleep through the night with no accidents, and I couldn’t be more proud of him. For the parents struggling...it will happen...just be consistent. Good Luck!

Give more likes to this beautiful lady plz she deserves more

Thank you so much for this video. I was crying and beating myself up feeling like a horrible failing mother because I felt I was not doing it correctly and scared that my daughter would always be dependant on others and watching your videos and reading comments of other moms having the same issues made me feel not alone and has given me hope that she will get better. Thank you so much!! ❤❤

You made me feel so incredibly relieved

Thank you. My son has SPD and he's almost 4yo and not yet potty trained. He used to tell us when he had a soiled diaper but as soon as we started visiting the potty he reverted to hiding when he had to poo or pee. I've felt like the most terrible mother for not being able to start this process, as well as having people like my mother yak over how at his age "you were already potty trained". It is very overwhelming but if you have a child with special needs it feels unsurmountable at times. I have the additional pressure of him having to be trained before school in August. Knowing others go through this and are able to find solutions is comforting.

This is the best video I've seen about potty training a child on the spectrum. My son is non verbal and turning 5 in March. We've been trying since he was 2

I wish I knew more about my son earlier so I could have found this video ❤️ he’s (I don’t know if this is correct to say) “high functioning” autistic spectrum, basically what they used to consider Aspergers. It took until 5 1/2 to be fully potty trained and we just thought he was stubborn and wasn’t ready because he seemed like the average kid in every other way. I was so embarrassed not of him but because I figured I just wasn’t doing a good enough job. I’m still frustrated that we and our pediatrician didn’t figure it out sooner. Everyone kept asking if I had tried sticker charts and rewards as if that wasn’t the first thing we tried. I’m sharing this in hopes that it helps someone similar. Be patient, I thought we’d never get where we are to be honest

Your soul is so radiant! Thank you for being so transparent and supportive. Your a Heaven Send:)

Having a 2y4mo old son (my 3rd baby) saying no any word and using the biggest baby nappies I've seen in the market. Preparing myself to start potty training him this summer and can't imagine how it'll work. Cried over this video, feeling how much you've gone through during potty training and your son's whole journey in general.

Thank you so much for this. We're in America and my son is also non verbal, autistic, etc. He also likes to smear and all kinds of crazy stuff. I needed some guidance and it seemed as if everyone just had generic answers and didn't actually have a child with autism. I'm not saying you have to have a child with autism to have insight, but being a parent of a child with severe ASD gives you a better perspective. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Lastly, when he does speak, he speaks in an English accent. He's OBSESSED with peppa pig. Again, thank you. One life, one love, one step at a time.

Thank you so much for sharing this! My 5 yo is also autistic and potty training has been challenging. When you shared about your son smearing his 💩, it immediately reminded me of my son as well. I don't want my son to feel shame or anxiety at all when it comes to potty training. I could feel the amount of judging eyes whenever I enter a room full of people, some family and friends, staring at my 5 yo in a diaper. Your video has helped me out tremendously. ❤️

This video was great. I am a parenting specialist. Today, I used this video to teach a class. The information was excellent. I have a child with special needs as well. One of the problems we had was smearing. I did not have anyone to help me in the early 90's so I had to do everything on my own. Now, I help parents with all kinds of parenting challenges. I am seeing more parents who are court ordered for parenting class come in with children who are on the autistic spectrum. Thank you for your video. I subscribed!

Thank you, you don't know how much of a difference this video you made has made, it's really appreciated

You made me feel so much better. You’re right people don’t talk about certain things. So other parents feel odd and embarrassed to talk about it. Thank you!!

Thank you for this. We have 5 year old twin girls (both on the spectrum) and it has been overwhelming trying to potty train them both. ❤️

Thank you for this video i have a 4 year old non verbal boy and he refuses to potty train and the tantrums are so real. My daughter was potty trained before a year old but now with my baby on the spectrum its a whole new world we both are learning together daily.

I know this is a year old video but this is extremely helpful. I am so happy to have found this video

Thank you I had been sharing your videos to my patients for a couple of years now

Aww !! I love the bubble idea ! ❤ tysm, this helped me very much. My son is turning 6 very soon and felt the pressure from others to start potty training. It’s okay they don’t understand. But thank you so much for giving me the peace of mind. Us moms can too hard on ourselves. Take care and God bless ❤you

I am overwhelmed

Thankyou soo much and we can finally relax knowing we are not alone in this 👍🏻💕

I'm so happy you mentioned about smearing poo. I appreciate your honesty. My autistic son does that. Thought he was the only one.

Tara , really good advices!!! I first tried when he was 2...he wasn't ready...2.5 I tried again...I found on internet a 5-step picture guide...put your pants down, sit on toilet, do your weewees/poos, flush,wash hands....I put the pictures in bathroom's wall so everytime I would sit him on his potty he could see the pictures and hear the actions...this help him a lot!!! So my 1st advice would be "Use pictures". 2nd "Try to keep him on the toilet as much possible"...I didn't use bubbles but I used numbers...he could count up to 20, so first I had a paper with the numbers up to 10, after while up to 20 and after while up to 30 (he was sitting on toilet and learning counting at the same time). Every mother can use whatever the kid likes..photos of cars, whatever will keep him as much as possible sitting on the toilet...this is because he needs to get used the feeling of the cold surface... .3rd "After every meal or time that drinks water, take him to sit on the toilet". These are the times that he probably needs the toilet. 4th" Lot of praise!!! for every tiny success!Make it a big deal. Tell to everyone!"...He took me 6 months of trying but he is toilet trained..

You make it sound so normal .Thank you my son is autistic and he is 5 year old in nappies

Great Video! Thanks Tara for this. Some really helpful tips!

Just found your channel and I love it! My son is 17, severely autistic, non verbal and the most beautiful soul I have ever met in my life! I've been watching your videos with your husband and we went through it all. I know you are talking about toilet training and I thought my son would never get there. We were lucky enough that his 1st grade teacher took it on. She took him to the bathroom every so often whether he needed to go or not. If he went he got something that was fantastic to him, in our case, it was M&M's. he was very motivative by this. She did this everyday for a week and boom, he was trained!! Good luck to everyone out there dealing with this, it will happen! xo

I'm so glad I saw this video. My almost 5 year old daughter with ASD isn't potty trained yet and I was getting concerned because someone told me that after 5 or 6 years they will lose the ability to control their bladder for the rest of her life lol

It is so nice to know my babies are not the only ones. It is also nice to hear someone else follows Dr. Temple Grandin. She is AMAZING! Like I said before you are doing a great job.

I just want to say thank you so much for your content and for this video! I had never heard of this app and it has been a big hit! Would love to see a video on apps you use/have used. Fabulous video and fabulous channel! THANK YOU TARA!

Brilliant! So helpful! Thank you so much for sharing and the encouragement.

Thank you very much, love from a mother in Denmark🙏🙏🙏❤

Wow you have calm me down alot. My son has been struggling with Toilet training issues for a long time and even now he is going to be 8 years old some how I think being in and out of school this year has messed up his routine

THANK YOU!!! My grandson just stopped smearing,he's almost 4 years old. My daughter is on the Spectrum as well. I'm able to deal with him much better than she. He's a wonderful boy who is now speaking and even reading. I appreciate your videos and sharing your stories as well as your knowledge.

I love that you said - get rid of the typical age expectations. Talk about lifting the pressure. Thank you.

Just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing these tips. My son will be 5 this summer and potty training has been rough. This video makes me feel more hopeful and informed. May God bless you and your family

Very blessed to have found your channel. My son is 3 and he is still not diagnosed but every doctor we have seen has told us he has autism. I am learning how to help him and understand him every day. Your videos really help me to understand more and help me help him.

I’m so glad I came across this video 🙌🏽 thank you so much for the tips

Thank you you had answer soo many questions that I had, I'm a mom of and Autistic boy he is 6 yr old also ADHD and his brother is 7 yrs and also has ADHD and cognitive delay, so is hard for me because I have to train both and I know that is has to be done with both at the same time. I've been looking for ideas and strategies in how to start potty training once again for the X time I've tried in the past both without any success , so thank you for your advise I'm glad i found your channel

Thank you. I was nervous for my child. God bless you.

I could cry! Coming across your video has been an absolute god send. I struggled with smearing for a while and thankfully my almost 4 year old seems to have stopped. The issue we are having now is that he seems to unaware he needs to go to the toilet. He uses the toilet when prompted and is brilliant about it, loves the routine of it but sensory issues seem to be problem. I'm going to give the app a go and see if it helps with giving him some way of communicating that he needs to go. Thank you!

Yup the struggle was real, we started when James was 3 #1 came pretty easy but was inconsistent, i never thought he would get it, and i kept praying he would get it #2 i mean before he started kindergarten, he finally got it the summer before he started school, and since has never had a accident. #2 was so much harder he finally got it when i left him alone, we were so proud, but now if i let him he would sit on the toilet literally for an hr or more, in the beginning however I couldn’t get him to sit for a minute.

As part of my research on ASD, I have been following your videos. My daughter is on the spectrum and I had tried at different stages to potty train her which failed. I wanted to try again this year as she was about to turn four and I wanted to be prepared. I decided to get your book "coming home to autism". Initially, as I was reading the potty training section of the book, I thought to myself, this is not what I am looking for. I was wrong! I jumped the gun too quickly. I want to let you know that section became a game-changer for us (especially the Ava Kids App you recommended). I got the app installed on my daughter's tablet, and after 3 days, I made a breakthrough. My daughter just turned four years a couple of weeks ago and it's been one month of potty training and she gets it now. She can wipe after pee, but still working on the wiping after a poo. There are still accidents once in a while when she gets engrossed in playing but, I am so thankful for the progress after trying and failing a couple of times. Sorry for writing too long, I just wanted to say thank you soo much for sharing with us and your book has proven really helpful in our journey with our daughter.

Great video! Thank you so much for posting this!

Thx 4 posting this very helpful & compassionate. God bless 🙌 🙏 ❤️

I'm so glad for your video. The reason why I'm watching this is because my son is 5 and he just got diagnosed not to long ago and he is in school full time for the first time and he is non verdad and the teacher at school was mad because he is not potty trained and even got a phone call from the principal today and make me feel frustrated because I don't know what to do. At home my son doesn't really like to used the bathroom and is frustrated. Now I'm going to try to do some of the things you mentioned.

Also I purchased your book and I must say it has some excellent advice in there. Very reassuring advice. X

I encourage all parents to take care of themselves in addition to their child. If you don't, you're not going to be much use down the road. I've watched the mother of my wife's 4 yo autistic granddaughter go from a vibrant young woman to someone who is withdrawn, depressed, and suffers from skin rashes and hair loss in this same amount of time. My wife and I see Luna 4-5 times a week and do what we can so the parents can have some limited rest. I'm glad I stayed in decent shape at 66 so I can pull Luna 2-3 miles in her Radio Flyer wagon when she comes over. I love her so much.

This video is soooo good. New sub.

Thank you for these tips. We're prepping to get our 7 yo there and this gives me the confidence that it's possible.

Hi Dylan Tell your mommy thank for helping me with my grandson Dj . Dj is 4 yrs old, his birthday was today . I really enjoy your videos. Thank you again Linda from Ct Usa 😁🇺🇸

Thank you 🙏🏼 for the real talk

I really loved your video! The poo smearing at the villa and the phone into the toilet when he took himself made me laugh. Thank you for being so real. You have great information and encouragement.

You are amazing lady… thank goodness

Underrated channel 10/10

Thank you for this video

Hi, tara my son was potty trainer by 4 he is still non verbal. I use Reinforcement like the iPad. He only got the iPad when he use the toilet. 1st it was when he pee he got the iPad 10 minutes. And if he did a poo he got it for 20 minutes.

My son is 3.5 and is currently in the smearing phase. Currently introducing potty training very slowly with PECS. Thank you for all of your guidance!

Thank you so much for this. My daughter is 4 and we have struggled with potty training for almost 2 years. I have been working harder since quarantine started but we are just not there yet. But I definitely appreciate the advice and plan to reset and start again in a few weeks.

Thank you for this video this is helping me so much for my 8 year old son who have Autism Spectrum and also nonverbal

Thank you, that is what i need to learn and learn from my niece 5 years girl.

Thank you so much for this!

You are a great mom!

Thank you so much....this is the best video have seen on this topic....

Thank you for helping

This is amazing advice , I will take your advice, my son is autistic and is non verbal communication, you explain it so well 🙂🙂

You are Amazing 😘 Thank you for all the tips👍🏻 I need to get my daughter to watch this video & your others Linda from Ct Usa

Thank you so much. My son is only 3 and half but it's not easy but am still pushing it

Great video and perfect timing, we have just started potty training with our nearly 7 year old. We tried many times over the last couple of years but she showed absolutely no interest. So now we are trying again and we finally got her to sit on the toilet this week! Yay! Small step I know, but it's progress and it's amazing. Like you said it might take a long time but we will eventually get there. 👍

Thank you for sharing the story about bleaching the walls. Lol My 3.5 year old did something similar a few weeks back and it's nice to know we're not alone!!!

This video has helped me so much thank u

Omg thank you for sharing

Thank you for sharing these useful tips. We have found this to be a tricky issue..... my little boy is speech delayed (started speaking 2yrs 9 months) so doesn't converse.... therefore when we started this journey in February when he turned 3... he was happy to wear pants, just said "floor wet" and hasn't really grasped toilet training yet. X

Thanks for this very helpful. 😊😊

Great tips, Thanks for sharing

Thank you.

I really needed to find these videos today, my son has started smearing and I’m struggling. Thank you so much for taking such a personal approach when making this video you’ve really helped me feel better x

Thanks a lot the video help me a lot!!! 💐

Ugh. Im searching because I've failed miserably. My 7 1/2 yr old Grandson, limited verbal (parrots some) Brain Cancer patient with 2 major surgeries left partial paralyzed, feeding tube so food rewards do not work. Thank God he doesn't smear. Want NOTHING to do with the toilet at all. Thank you for the Toilet ONLY toy tip. I'm excited to try that one. God bless all of you with this journey.

Blessings to all

Thanks for sharing the info with such lightheartedness ...ur funny

Thank you ❤

This video is great

Thank you much, this video was so helpful. My son is 3 half and he scream when he see the potty. He won’t sit on it.

Thank you so much for this video helped so I'm starting potty trainning this has helped me so much

Good video i liked it it helped me

You’re one amazing lady... I have a friend who’s struggling with a 5 year old and still she’s not sure if he’s Autistic or is it something else... He’s doing speech therapy, but it’s hard. I hope she also finds your video helpful 🙏🏻 God bless ❤️

Amazing mum

Hi Tara, hello from Russia, your channel is amazing, thank you! Best wishes for you and your family! We’ve just started our path and your videos are really helpful

Thanks for sharing

My daughter is 8 years old not pottied trained she’s Autistic nonverbal. Strangely she was peeing in pottied but since Pandemic now she’s not peeing in potty at all. But she’s on it. Thank you so much, for making this video.

I love this video

Thank you so much for this video😭

Hello This is the first time watching your video. thank you so much for the detail information. you did a really good job in explaining it in detail and the things to look out for very well explained. 💛💛💛

I have been binge watching your videos for the last hour or 2, and have never felt more seen. Was in the grocery store at the check out trying to hold back tears (one of those periods were in, my 3 year old has been regressing, barely eats, we’ve been warned he may need a feeding tube or peg I think it’s called, and after weeks/months of the same, and being strong, and a single mum, it’s hard… and then right when I was afraid I was going to start crying at the checkout, with my headphones on, listening to this video, you started to talk about Dylan smearing his poo lol and I had the biggest smile on my face, this is the journey lol and you gotta laugh. You feel like family, we think so similarly, just wanted to pop in and say how grateful I am for you sharing this with the world, new fan here from Australia 🇦🇺 (half British lol) so much love for this channel, and glad you are sharing your talents here and helping likeminded souls xoxoxo

Thanks for sharing this it really helpful

Thank you so much for this informative video, my son is now 5 years old and is still in pull ups. I will definitely try all the tips on this video. Thank you so much 🤗

Thank you so much for your video, it is such a relief to know others are going through similar situations. I appreciate you offering solutions as well. We got the "See me go Potty" app right away, he watched over and over. Thanks for giving us hope. We know our permanent hope is when God's will is done on Earth(obviously all this isn't his will) as mentioned in the Lord's prayer. But until then we appreciate all the help we can get.🙂