Teaching your child with autism how to use the restroom requires patience, consistency, and a personalized action plan. Since every child is unique, the best potty training strategies for each child will differ. To keep a child’s bathroom experience pleasant during potty training, the general approach should include:
- Setting up the bathroom to be a familiar place for your child.
- Keeping the entire potty training experience calm through realistic expectations and gradual progress.
- Uplifting your child during their potty training through positive reinforcement.
Below are some specific strategies that may help keep potty training calming, sensory-conscious, and child-led. Every child is different, so these potty training strategies may not work for everyone but can be a useful starting point!
The ABCs of Habit Training
Consistency is key. Whichever potty training strategies you adopt, a predictable routine should guide the plan. When a child with autism is empowered with a roadmap that clearly outlines the process, the potty training steps may become a less intimidating endeavor.
Mirroring the habit training principles used during our autism therapy in Edison, NJ, and our various other clinic locations, here are several tips you can try:
- Create a visual bathroom schedule that aligns with your child’s natural relief cycles.
- Encourage plenty of fluids before the scheduled bathroom time to increase frequency and consistency.
- Explain each step in detail, providing simple and clear directions until each individual step is mastered.
- Implement the use of timers, countdowns, or warnings for transitions to establish patterns.
- Bring a favorite toy or object along each time, further reinforcing calmness and a sense of familiarity when using the restroom.
- Praise, encourage, and reward your child for doing their best each time!
Understanding Your Child’s Sensory & Functional Needs
For many children with autism bathroom anxiety, avoidance, or frustration may be associated with sensory triggers.
- Loud toilet sounds
- Splashing sink water
- Loud electric hand drying units
- Strong soap fragrances
With your child’s unique sensory and functional needs in focus, consider which stimuli you can alleviate so the potty training experience becomes more tolerable and enjoyable. When using public restrooms, you may need to provide additional accommodations. Some examples include:
- If your child dislikes standard toilet paper’s rough and dry texture, bring a supply of soft bathroom tissue or wet wipes.
- If loud sounds upset your child, offer sound-canceling headphones or earmuffs.
- If strong soaps cause tension, use an odorless soap/sanitizer to clean your child’s hands.
Factors like automatic sinks or loud air dryers may require careful consideration to reduce stressors while replicating the safety and familiarity of your home restroom.
Organize a Positive & Child-Led Potty Training Plan With Our Caring Team
Among the many important life skills acquired through our autism behavioral services in Montgomery County, PA and our other clinics, we use personalized habit training into our lesson plans! Each child has their own unique needs, so our comprehensive behavior therapy uses individualized sessions to teach lessons like potty training. We also demonstrate how you incorporate these lessons into the home environment. We can help you create a synergistic potty schedule that aligns with your child’s unique learning style and behavior therapy goals.
Parent and caregiver training is a crucial element of our individualized support. If you would like to learn more about proven and effective habit training principles, Helping Hands Family is here to support you and your child’s meaningful growth on a personal level!
Are you searching for other helpful autism resources or clinical support near you? Our network of ABA providers offers clinical and in-home assistance alongside comprehensive support with autism therapy eligibility, autism assessments, and other related support services to help you and your child thrive! Request a consultation today.
