Toileting and Autism video transcript

Hello, my name is Rakhee, and I am an Occupational Therapist in the Social Communication Team. As a team, we have made the videos on this page to help guide you as you work with your child to increase their independence with toileting.

 

Before we start, it’s important to highlight the main aspects of autism that impact on toilet training. Within each of these, there are factors that can influence the progress of toilet training.

 

The first area is preference for familiarity. This can cause a difficulty in adjusting to a change in routine. For example, if a child is attached to wearing their nappy and the steps associated with this, then they may not be able to easily transition to the steps of using the toilet. Even if a toileting routine is established at home, generalising those skills to other contexts may be difficult. For example, if a toileting routine is established at home, it may not be established at nursery and vice versa. Therefore, continuity of strategies and communication with the nursery can be really helpful.

 

Secondly, communication. Your child may not have yet developed the skills or ability to make a request or understand what is being asked of them. Therefore, starting to use visuals or objects of reference, in addition to using simple words, could help to start the process of toilet training.

 

The social aspect is key. Even if communicative skills are there, the child may lack an understanding of what might be socially expected. This can also impact on their motivation to do things for social reasons, such as to please their parents or other people. They may be less motivated by social rewards, such as praise.

 

This lack of motivation then can impact on what strategies you can use to encourage and support independent toileting.

 

Finally, it is very common for autistic children to also have sensory processing difficulties or differences, which can in turn have an impact on their progress with toileting. This will be discussed in more detail in videos further down this page.

 

It is important to note that all these areas have multiple solutions depending on your child’s needs. It may be a case of trying a few different solutions and strategies to see which one fits your child’s needs best.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video from the social communication team. We hope you have found it useful.

 

Please take the time to complete our feedback form to let us know how you have found the information in this video and on this webpage. You can find the form following links on our website. We are always looking to improve our services and your feedback is so important to us in this process.