Potty Training with PECS

My son is 2 going on 3 and one of the hardest things I've ever had to do is potty train him. After numerous attempts with musical potty's, potty seats on the toilet and food encouragement we finally found a system that helps him ...... PECS.

The PECS system is actually working along with a daily schedule of events so that he knows when I will request for him to go to the potty. Let me spell it out.

We have a PECS chart of a daily schedule and inbetween every event I have a potty on the schedule so that he knows after this then we potty (just to get him started). But let me back up a moment on my method...

First days - tried to chart how many times he did #1 and #2 in his diaper. We devised the picture schedule and stuck to scheduled eating times so that I could time when I checked his diaper.

This took about 2 days or so to get a good chart; took a couple more days just to get him used to the schedule.

Next - I started to incorporate the potty at these times that I charted and added it to the Picture schedule. My son already knew what the potty was so I thought this would be no problem. Boy was I wrong. Everytime he went to the potty he would HOLD it. He then held it until he got his pull-up on and did everything in the Pull-up. How frustrating was this for me! I couldn't let that stop me though so I thought of Plan B. How about we eliminate the Pull-ups and leave his bottom naked all day. You know where this is going right? Well he held it and held it until he just had to go and this was not on the scheduled chart when this occured! Ugh! what to do right?

Then I found this ingenious invention.....
Tinkle Toonz sensor Saved the Day! This is the sensor that goes into the Tinkle Toonz potty. You can acutally just purchase the sensor and place it in their underware so at the moment they decided to do #1 it starts to sing and then you can train them to sit on the potty.
Since my son insisted on going in the pull-up I had to really train him to go to the potty so ...
Step 1 - Back to the schedule for meals
Step2 - No more pull-ups @ home - only training pants.. we use the all in one kind
Step 3 - sensor in and we go according to the schedule. If he decides to hold it, it's ok cause the sensor will tell me when he starts
Step 4 - Make sure the TV and anything else is turned down to a reasonable volume so you can hear the sensor
Step 5 - Have a potty close by- where you are and have the bathroom door open and ready. Make sure nothing is in your way so you can run like the wind when they start to go. My son can start and stop so I run like the wind and I also take him to the potty when I have to go, just in case this motivates him as well.
Have your PECS potty card and PECS potty schedule in the bathroom and go through the steps while on the schedule and while off - in a hurry - this will ensure that your child understands thoroughly. Make sure your schedule has the times marked when your child will go #2. They usually go at the same time every day, the sensor will not detect this. After a while, my son thought it was fun to be whisked away to the bathroom or the potty. Since he thinks it's a game, he now tells me ( in his own way) It's time to run and then comes to get me to run to the potty. Because I am happy and excited and we cheer afterwards he loves it. We still have accidents but this is helping us tremendously.
If you are interested in the Tinkle Toonz potty or sensor you can find this at http://www.tinkletoonz.com/. They also have a really good article about autism and potty training at http://www.tinkletoonz.com/special_needs.html.
I found the PECS system for potty training at http://www.do2learn.com/picturecards/printcards/2inch/imagegridswords/bathroomword.htm
Let me know how it's going! :)

Our History with Pervasive Developmental Disorder

I guess my post should be about my inspiration... William. He is my 2 year old son who is living with autism. He is a constant joy and has truly changed my life.
We first started to see something different in him at about 14 months.


He was babbling just fine, and then one day, he just stopped talking. We thought he was just a thinker and that he was quiet. He never complained, ate everything (didn't know when he was full) and did a lot of things we thought were "boy like". He enjoyed a lot of ruff play, climbing and tumbling and the feedback I got from family and friends is that he may be a late talker.
I finally got fed-up with the not talking thing around 16 months. I made an appointment with his Pediatrician and wanted to know why my child could not call me mama. She suggested that I call Early Intervention and get him evaluated. His health and growth was normal and I was looking forward to some help in the talking realm. When they evaluated my son, they told me he had a speech delay and that he should see an Occupational Therapist and Special Instructor to help foster communication and steady his balance. I agreed and these specialists came every week.
My work schedule was getting too hectic to be home once a week and I had to move William to another daycare.

Let me backtrack before I go any further. While going through these evaluations, I had another child - my lovely daughter, Danielle. I am married, but most of the children's stuff falls on mommy, but my husband is very supportive of everything that I do for Will.

And the saga continues....
We decided to research a daycare where the therapists could see him and said that they do accept special needs children. After about 3 months, the daycare decided to meet with us and let us know that William needed a TSS (Therapeutic Support) or he needed to go. This would be my first indication that William had a split personality; One personality with others and one with his mommy. With me he was a good boy. Liked to play and get attention, but because he was pretty much the only walking child, he had full range to get up and go as he pleased. These skills did not translate well to a structured daycare setting and rather than conforming to a child, the daycare decided that he needed to conform to them.
After I picked myself up off the floor from the thoughts of having my son be a daycare dropout, I researched an agency that could evaluate my son and let me know if he can get TSS. This is where I first heard of the Autism Spectrum and how he may need to see a Developmental Pediatrician to get diagnosed.
I thought that the bad news just kept getting worse and worse. I had all kinds of thoughts and worries and didn't know what to think. I think I cried for days but I knew I had to do something about this.
While still participating in Early Intervention, I decided to ask his specialists about this. They informed me that this was a good idea but that William was making progress in trying to babble, but just to be sure, go make the appointment. This took FOREVER to get an appointment, but we did finally see a DP and that's when we got the diagnosis, Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS).
In one way, I was sort of relieved to be able to call it something. In another way, I was not relieved for others to have a label to put on my son. I am totally against labeling people because I think others tend to lean on that label to limit ones abilities, and I knew William could achieve so much more than anyone could imagine.
So with this diagnosis, we ventured on to get him more services like Speech Therapy added on to the other specialists from Early Intervention. We also left that daycare and decided to take a vacation while researching another program best suited for HIS talents.
We decided on the YMCA because William liked art and music so much. They were experienced with kids on the spectrum and even his therapists were happy with the change. We still decided to pursue a TSS, but instead we were awarded a Behavior Specialist.
Now William sees aSpecial Instructor, Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Behavior Specialist once a week, every week. He also gets Private Speech and OT twice a week. He picks up his social behavior from being with children his own age at the Y, and he is doing so much better through Sign Language and the PECS system.
Through it all, I thought my marriage was going to fall apart, we were going to be penniless trying to pay for therapy, and that I was going to lose my job over all the days I had to take him to the Dr.
This is a story of hope because we have survived as a couple (with bumps and bruises along the way) and we are struggling to spend time and money with him but we see the results and he's getting better and better.
We've changed his diet, well actually he's changed our diet, and we've become better parents to our daughter by taking time to celebrate the good things instead of the bad. This has inspired me to write a book (which I am working on as I blog) and maybe even start a business.
He has challenged me in ways that I could never dream of without him and as days pass, worries I carry keep falling away.