Potty Training Update

This is one of those life skills that with special needs kids might just take a bit more time and that was the case with Miss K. This has also been a goal for learning under life skills.  I think I am almost at the point of saying she is daytime trained. For about nine months she was staying dry but you had to remind her to go. Now she is beginning to initiate on her own. 

Here you can see Miss K was beginning to train baby. That picture was taken about six years ago when we were beginning to try this. Maybe I should have tried harder, maybe I should have pushed more at that time, maybe I should have tried again sooner but those are all maybes and life was being lived.

I did try when she was 3 and that didn't take. We did often put her on the toilet before a bath. Life is a blur as far as what efforts were made until a year ago. I did try once when J was at camp. Then a year ago I decided we needed to work on it. I put her in underwear and reminded her and took her. Most mornings it was a battle to get her into underwear as she much preferred diapers. We had many wet accidents and she didn't even care but would continue playing. Now if she has an accident she will go and change herself. It was lots of mama taking her even when she said she didn't need to go. I tried to do it when she go dressed, around 10:00, after lunch, 2:00, 4:00, after dinner and before bed. One of the reasons for the times is it helped me to have a time and I would also say, "it is 10:00 time to go to the bathroom."

There were times that I wonder if she had a problem and could not sense but now she is beginning to initiate and has even come in from playing outside to go.

Night time is our next goal. The other night she said she wanted to wear underwear. I took her before I went to bed and then when I woke up in the middle of the night. She did stay dry. It is good to know that she can do this now we need to work on that.

Treats worked a bit when we were training but I don't think it encouraged her to try that much. I even bought a potty watch but she didn't like that. I used the timer but she really didn't like it. We used lots of praise and telling her about all the people she knew who wore underwear. She is just now beginning to understand that she is too big for diapers.

It can be a long process but the rewards are huge. It can be slow at times but it is wonderful to have this closer to done. I think it was slow as mentally she didn't understand and care and physically to learn to control and know her body.

I am thankful that we have made this much progress.

Now we can go back to other topics like chores, books, lakes, and other things we enjoy.


Beth