Autism and Toilet Training: A Guide For Parents

Toilet training can be a big challenge for parents, whether their child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or not. Kids with autism sometimes take longer to establish a toileting routine and might need additional help.

If your child has ASD and is struggling with toilet training or you are feeling anxious about toileting, there are a few things you can do to support them and make training more successful.

Download Our Toilet Training Resources:

Tips For Toilet Training

Considerations For Parents

Before You Start: Skills Your Child With ASD Will Need For Toilet Training

You can increase your child’s chances of success by targeting critical prerequisite skills before you start. You might be able to work on some of these skills and toilet training at the same time, but in some cases you will need to take a step back and focus on acquiring that critical skill with your child first.

The following checklist will help you assess whether your child is ready for toilet training or if there are skills that they need to address before moving onto training:

Download Our Toilet Training Readiness Checklist For Autism ( English \| Spanish)

It’s not uncommon for children with autism to take a little more time to get there, and it is important to approach learning with empathy and patience. That might require taking extra time with certain pre-requisite skills, but it will go a long way to making toilet training as successful as possible.

Developing Your Toilet Training Plan: Skills and Routine

If your child has the necessary skills to move forward, you can start developing a toilet training plan. Every child is unique, and the plan will have to be tailored to them and their needs.

Start by understanding the skills required for toilet training and how to successfully (and easily) break down and teach those skills. Incorporate training into a routine and stick to it. While the goal is independent toileting, you will need to be patient, stay consistent, and build up each skill over time.

Toilet training skills to teach your child include:

• Building awareness of their bodily needs to use the bathroom
• Communicating the need to use the toilet (using verbal cues, gestures, or visual aids)
• Establishing a consistent toilet routine (going to the bathroom at regular intervals or after meals)
• Undressing and dressing (including pulling pants up and down)
• Flushing and handwashing after using the bathroom

Additional Resources: Teaching Hygiene Skills and Learning To Wait

Practical Tips for A Strong Toilet Training Plan

Toilet training is hard work. These practical tips can help you make the plan more successful.

• Your child should be in underwear. This will help your child get accustomed to the feel of underwear instead of a pullup. Toileting accidents are more apparent when they happen in underwear, which may speed up the learning process with more immediate feedback available for you and frequent positive reinforcement for them.

• Set a schedule. Start general and work backwards if you need to. This could be 30-minute intervals sitting on the toilet for about 3 minutes. The schedule can become gradually more relaxed as they successfully avoid any accidents.

• Do dry checks. Right before you take your child to the bathroom, check their underwear. If they are dry, praise them!

• Work on requesting. After you check your child and they are dry, prompt them to request to use the bathroom. How you do this will vary based on your child. This will help build independence from the start.

• Be ok with accidents. Accidents will happen. Be mentally and environmentally prepared for that. Wearing underwear makes it easier to detect accidents. When they happen, it’s important to remain neutral. Label what happened and take them to the bathroom to change.

• You are not stuck inside. Life goes on while you are toilet training your child, and it should! Determine blocks of time during the day to devote to toilet training. When you leave the home, put them back in their diaper, pullup or protective underwear.

• Pay attention to progress. If you aren’t seeing any changes, something with your plan should change. There are other options.

Other Important Considerations For Parents

Toilet training can come with additional challenges. Knowing how to address them will be important to support your child. The following considerations can help:

Rule Out Any Physical or Medical Reasons For Difficulties with Toilet Training

Don’t automatically assume that your child is making a choice not to use the toilet. Discuss this with your pediatrician to confirm that your child does not have medical barriers that may interfere with their ability to control his or her bladder and bowel functions.

Reduce Challenging Behavior Around Toileting

Interfering behavior refers to a range of behaviors that your child might express that hinder their progress in performing daily life tasks. In the case of toileting, that can include things such as refusing to enter the bathroom (fears and avoidance), resisting attempts to establish a regular schedule (deficits in cooperation), insistence on using only one, specific toilet (need for sameness), and more. While every child is different, it’s important to be prepared to manage these behaviors with patience, empathy, and persistence in leveraging all components of your child’s toilet training plan. Your child’s flexibility (and yours) is a huge part of toilet training!

Take Your Child’s Age Into Consideration

Your child’s age impacts the language you will use. 12-18 months is not too early to start, and it is never too late! Age may impact how you will train your child, the expectations you set, and their path to success.

Decide How You Will Reinforce

You will want to create an environment rich with reinforcement. Find items that your child is willing to “work” for. This might mean hanging on to some of your child’s favorite things and using them only for toilet training.

Considerations for Toileting Accidents

If your child has an accident, make sure to have items needed easily accessible. This includes changes of clothes, clean underwear and cleaning products.

Seeking Support For Toilet Training

Toilet training is hard work, but you don’t have to do it all on your own. If your child receives ABA therapy or goes to school, talk to your child’s BCBA (ABA therapist) or teacher. They can help you identify appealing solutions for your child and maximize your child’s progress.

Ready For Toilet Training?

Becoming toilet-trained is a critical step towards personal independence and access to the community, and it directly impacts the quality of life for the individual and their caregivers. With a dedicated plan, you can help your child acquire this fundamental skill.

If you need additional support, ABA therapy can help you and your child make progress towards this important milestone.

Behavioral Framework provides ABA therapy services to families in Maryland, Virginia, DC and North Carolina. Our clinical teams work with families to ensure a positive and successful toilet training experience. Early intervention can facilitate progress. Reach out today to get started!