Potty training a non verbal child
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@Emma he doesn’t respond to pictures, he doesn’t respond to much tbh he’s just always constantly in his own lil world. I feel like we are miles away from learning to potty train 😣
@Nadine I feel you. I naively started potty training at 2.5 and he has just turned 4 and we still aren’t there. I’m quite lucky that I feel he has good control, for example he manages to go to nursery and not poo and then tell him to go to the toilet for wees. Mine doesn’t do flash cards either, so I just have to second guess him all the time which has about a 60% success rate!
My youngest did have the understanding however she was preverbal. We learnt to recognise her noises and facial expressions but also used signs. We started by putting her on the toilet/potty every time she looked busy. With my oldest (asd) he didn’t have the understanding however it was taking him every hour. Writing it down to find a pattern and basically catching it.
Whilst I do not have a child with SEN I was a teaching assistant in an SEN school for 3 years so whilst my advise is not direct it may help. 1 - some children just are not ready to grasp the concept for a very long time and that’s okay! 2 - videos and cartoons etc about potty training can be extremely helpful especially if watching YouTube etc is something they enjoy! You can also find apps with flash card type symbols on which some children respond to better than the physical cards! 3 - sometimes just encouraging them to sit on the potty (even clothed etc) will peak curiosity until they are willing to try! 4 - lots and lots of positive reactions when they interact with the potty/ toilet etc. I apologise if you have tried all of this already but hopefully it is helpful!
My son didn't potty train til he was 4 and a half... I spent years trying to force it on him. Using every kind of visual stimulation, nothing worked. I just had to leave him to do it in his own time and sure enough, he got it straight away when he was ready to
@Amiee thanks for all the useful advice hun I’ll definitely remember all of this x
@Natalie I don’t feel my son is ready at all or will have the understanding for a long time. Did ur son go to a mainstream school? X
@Nadine Yeahh he's in mainstream. He literally started to use the toilet the end of the summer holidays before he started Reception. It was almost like he knew he had to get it by then and he did. I was told though it's not the end of the world if they wear nappies in school, there's support staff that will change nappies x
@Natalie oh I didn’t know they changed nappies in mainstream. I’ve been heading towards putting my son in a Sen school, he’s currently being assessed for an Ehcp at the min in nursery x
@Nadine I think the EHCP will have this need incorporated in it! Well that’s what I’m hoping!!
@Emma I just hope he gets it before January as I know the application close soon for applying for schools x
@Nadine Yeahh the people that approve the EHCP will decide if he can go to a mainstream school or not. They'll also take into consideration the extra support for nappy changing etc x
@Nadine we haven’t even started on the ehcp yet so mine is going to be going to mainstream school. He is on a nursery plus scheme st nursery but they say his needs are too high for it but then they aren’t high enough for a SEND school!
Does he respond to pictures atall? Flash cards could work? Mine can say words but he doesn’t use them independently so potty training is the same for me. You could hope that you predicting things based on his toilet cues (body language etc) and he will probably just get the hang of it. I still have to prompt mine, or he will walk towards the toilet sometimes but he can’t/wont communicate!