If you would like more information regarding
The Son-Rise Program please visit our Catalog and Mailing List Request form.
Son-Rise Program Information - for families with special
children.
The New Son-Rise Program Catalog is now available! 32 pages
packed with information, photos, stories, endorsements, Q&A's,
and practical tools to help you get started with the Son-Rise ProgramŽ
right away.
Posted By Gaylen on December 08, 2000 at 02:33:52:
In Reply to: Help me understand
posted by DC on December 05, 2000 at 16:27:44:
I applaud you for taking the time to learn more about autism and consider the best approach for this child. Since you don't know for sure whether he has autism, I assume there hasn't been any formal testing yet or the doctor's are not sure either? To learn more about autism, I'd suggest going to the Autism Research Institute's website at Also, some great books for better understanding autism, in addition to the Option book mentioned, are Gail Gillingham's "Autism: Handle with Care" and Donna William's "An Inside/Out Approach to Autism." These go a little deeper into the different manifestations of autism than most books.
One thing to keep in mind is that it isn't really all that important to give the challenges a label. Labels often limit us. It's also important to remember that most kids don't end up in early intervention due to being spoiled or babied. While most autistic kids do not potty train until age 6 or so, many other challenged kids take longer as well. If you approach the child as an individual with special needs, thorough explore his strengths and weaknesses, you'll be so much more effective at inspiring what you want from him. Believe he can do what you want him to do, make things easier and easier, break down tasks one step at a time and be really appreciative of any step the child takes in the direction you want him to. So, if you want him to become comfortable with the potty, make it a nice, comfy place, where there's no pressure to perform. Get him comfortable with the bathroom first. If needed, get him comfortable looking into the bathroom first, then putting a foot in, etc etc. It may take alot longer but once the child becomes comfortable with the process and knows he has control, he'll be much more likely to train easily. In the meantime, when you change a diaper, explain (in a non-judgemental way)about how he's getting to be so big and that's really exciting because now he's big enough to use the potty. Show him where his wastes should go in a nice way and continually affirm that you know he'll be using the potty soon.
It took my son two years to get up the courage to use the potty. It was a very traumatic thing for him. When we pushed, we'd lose ground. When we quietly encouraged and affirmed his efforts (no matter how small they seemed), he'd try harder to gather his courage. Once he had enough control of his body to hold it, we put him in underwear and allowed him to use diapers only in the bathroom, then slowly phased them out all the while gently encouraging him to use the potty. He trained for urine at 5 and for BMs at 6 and rarely had an accident once he used the potty once. He could go on his own without reminders immediately once he trained.
It's also important to consider kid's developmental stages, as well as sensory and motor challenges. Kids who are auditorily or sight sensative have alot of difficulty getting comfortable in bathrooms due to noises and lights that we hardly notice. Kids with little body awareness (which applies to many autistic and special needs kids) lack the ability to know when they need to go. In that case, lots of deep pressure can give them more awareness and lead to success. Other kids are just deathly afraid to let go into a potty perhaps due to some fear of losing part of themself. At any case, understanding and easing into a situation tends to help alot in many cases. Both of the books I mentioned above are really great at pointing out sensory problems we don't think of.
Back to top
