Community Meetings
About
Town
May 7, 2003: Carol Kranowitz presents two programs, The Out-of-Sync
Child and The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun. For more information contact
www.sensoryresources.com.
Ongoing support group (monthly): F.A.C.T. (Families with Autistic
Children Together): Providing information and an opportunity for
families to network with each other. Child care available. Call
Hopkins Community Education for more information, (952) 988-4073
Everyday
Living
In this section, The Therapy Place provides ideas and insights that
can help parents and caregivers manage everyday life with a special
needs child. Visit us regularly to see new topics. Please email
us with ideas or topics you would like us to cover in future editions.
Toilet Training
Autistic Children
Toilet training a child with autism is often very challenging. Not
all children respond to the same teaching approaches. We offer several
ideas that may help, based on various readings and our own staff
experiences.
Consider
the Child’s Perspective
Certain characteristics of autism might contribute to a child’s
difficulty in learning to use the toilet.
1. Children with autism often have trouble with reciprocal social
relationships. While other two- or three-year-olds might be proud
of wearing “big boy or big girl pants” and be happy to
please their parents, this type of motivation is not common in the
child with autism.
2. A child with
autism may not understand what is being expected of him or her when
asked to use the toilet, due to difficulties in understanding language
or imitating others.
3. A child with
autism has trouble paying attention (called “attending”)
to important information consistently. Following all the steps of
toilet use and staying focused on them are big challenges.
4. It is very
hard for the child with autism to stop and change routines. Children
on the autism spectrum have difficulty understanding why they need
to change a routine they have had for several years (going in their
diaper vs. going in the toilet).
5.
The child with autism often has sensory challenges. The connection
between body sensations and everyday activities can be hard for
the child to understand. Heightened sensory awareness can lead to
difficult behaviors, such as smearing feces. The child may have
overwhelming fears regarding the bathroom environment, the toilet,
or the noise. Preliminary steps, such as removing clothing, can
bring on awareness of temperature changes and cause breakdowns.