good question, my son is also 4 and will be 5 in May and still isn't potty trained. He gets the whole concept but just won't do it. If I bring him to sit on the potty, he holds it in. We also have him on Miralax for witholding. He doesn't pee or poop on the potty and I am desperate for help. I have read and tried everything. Sorry I can't be of help, but am interested in what others have to say as well.

Well julie will be 4 in april and she still isnt, she has been sitting on the potty occasionally but never goes, and her behaviorsit said we cannot force her as she will hate it, so its a waiting game, I did do a social story and hung it by the potty ,

sorry I couldnt help more... hugs

My son is 7. We have been potty training since 2.5.

#2 success came around 4.5-5 to almost 100% and by 5.5 never another #2 accident

#1 success came around 6 when we got our IBI therapist. The school only wanted him in pull-ups so over x-mas break we really worked on keeping him dry for at least 45min to 1 hour.

Now he's dry most times up to 1hour 45 min with the odd accident. Mostly due to being tired or over sensory stimulated... or sick.

So at 7 were most of the way but not completely there yet. That said, no accidents of any kind at school for 1.5 months! yea!

thanks Challenger for sharing, as sometimes I feel like she is so behind on this, my son who is not autistic was potty trained at 2.5 so I felt she was really behind,,

hugs

Thanks for opening this one up. My daughter was 2 @ end of Aug. & am already getting pressure as to when I am going to start potty training. Now I can be armed enough to tell them to 'back off'. I am known as somewhat of a potty training "expert", so everyone looks to me. I've potty trained over 100 kids, but this will be my first autistic one! When younger worked in a daycare in the "potty training room", they didn't leave my class until potty trained!

I spent a long 3-day weekend holed up in the bathroom 1-1/2 years ago, trying to potty train my son. From that day forward, there were no more pull ups for him (he was staying dry through the night). The problem that we had for the until just recently was that he was completely verbal prompt dependent and if we didn't tell him to go to the bathroom, he'd just go in his pants. It was a complete nightmare and we've spent a small fortune on replacement underwear for him.

It wasn't until just recently that I found out that he had a gut issue that was causing him to unaware of his bodily functions and pooping -- excuse the visual I'm going to be giving -- something that was the consistency of split pea soup. It was awful but weren't willing to reintroduce pull-ups at this point because, as long as we were on top of things, we were able to keep him clean and dry most of the time. It just required a lot of work and vigilance on our part.

We started seeing a DAN doctor back in February and, at his suggestion, have started giving our son mega doses of probiotics and started treating him for yeast overgrowth recently. One day, not long after implementing these two treatments, I caught a glimpse of my son hightailing it to the bathroom, grabbing a toy catalog on the way. I followed him in and there he was, sitting on the potty, reading his toy catalog (yep, he's all male!), going poop. It has been a little over a month now and he hasn't had one single accident since.

So, my recommendation for everyone from now on is look at your children's gut issues. If bad bacteria and yeast are having a frat party in your stomach, you may feel like crap (no pun intended) most of the time and may not be able to make it to the bathroom when nature calls.

We started potty traing at two but she had no interst in it...I tried several books that were useless but she caught on and potty trained arond 3 1/2 years of age....I realize that this may be unheard of for you all but I had no idea my daughter had autism at that time...I thought she was being extremely stubborn...I guess I was more stubborn....
one thing that did help was getting her a doll that went potty...you know the drink and wet dolls.....

We started potty training only because I saw my little guy waking up dry in the morning. So I started to put him on the potty. Sometimes it worked other times not. My thought is pushing the issue is never going to work. Making part of their daily routine is were you are going to see some success. I always do morning and before bath. I have taken pictures of my little man sitting on the potty. I show him the picture and say do you need to go potty. This really got the ball rolling. We are no were near being trained. But going two times a day on the potty is better then none in my book. Good luck everyone.

Well, I don't have an answer to the potty training situation - all I can say is my little guy is 4 (5 in May) and he will sit on the toliet but won't actually do anything. The autism specialist at his school said there are 3 things parents can not control with regards to their child 1) making them talk 2) making them eat and 3) making them use the potty. Ironically that's the 3 issues I have with my son :) My daughter (not on the spectrum and one of the smartest kids in her class) was not potty trained until she was 3 1/2. Glad to know others are stuggling with this issue, too. Take care - Tina

we started my grandson with letting him pee in the yard this summer right before he turned 4 and it only took about 2 weeks for him to catch on it was about 2 more weeks for him to poo in the pot but he was completely trained before school and he was very excited about the big boy undies he could wear. we do still put a diaper on at night but other than that no accidents all day

I had lots of issues with this because like Michaux42 i thought they were just being stubborn. We started finally making progress for both little ones at about 4. I started by letting them pee in the yard (lumberjack style). Then gradually worked to sitting them on the potty for 5min. every two hours if they were willing. They would sit on the pot at daycare but never go. At home we did have success about 50% of the time and it gradually got better with my boy who is 6. My 4 year old (more affected boy) didn't really get potty trained until we put him on Adderall. After that it took a week for #1 and #2. Smooth sailing since then. Not one accident.

My 6 y/o boy still has accidents every couple of days. He also has enuresis and encopresis. I think his accidents during the day are more related to his severe anxiety.
So, for me, the answer to your question JordanC is 4 years old I guess.

After I got over the apprehension of having them potty train at the "right" age, I found a motto " They'll be trained by the time they're 20, right?"

Well, my son is almost 8 years old now and he is not trained yet. He is perfectly capable of going in the toilet if I can get him to it.

I will ask him if he needs to go and he will always say no. Either he doesn't know when he needsto go or he doesn't want to switch activities anad interrupt what he is doing. I haven't honestly figured out which yet. Still he is starting to be dry some mornings so I am taking him right away, but at almost eight we still have a ways to go.

When he was four people told me not to worry until he was six. When he was six they said , oh don't worry, he'll be trained by the time he's 7 or 8.

I've come to the conclusion that he'll be trained when he is ready. (I hope it will be soon because at over 125 lbs he will be outgrowing the goodnights soon.

Eddie is now 2 1/2 he will still on the potty after he does it but if you take of his diapper he will say all done, but does not do anything. I acualy now a few kids that have Autism and trainned at the average time but they are mildly Autistic. I have a question does it make a difference on how suveir the Autism is because i have read yes and no. What do you guys think, would love to now.

Potty training ~*cringe*~ at the thought.

I have 2 kids with autism. My son, 7 has some major bowel problems and it's an issue, but if he has to go he will go. He wasn't trained until he was 5, and that was because the school insisted we send him in underwear, and we hid the diapers at home. Now he will go, I still have to wipe him, but it's better than a diaper.

My daughter, 6, is the most headstrong person I've ever met in my entire life. She will wear underwear to school. She will wear underwear to after-school program. And she will sometimes even wear them a few minutes at home. :(. She holds in her feces all day, and then comes home, grabs a diaper, and defecates in it. She will pee in the potty, no problem. But she absolutely refuses to defecate in it. Just tonight I sat her down, cause I saw her starting to go, and she (pardon the details) had it hanging out of her butt and would not poop in the pot. I have no clue why this child is doing this. I have been told of a guy with autism who thought his innards were coming out. Sometimes it feels good to them to have it warm stuck to their bodies. It's just frustrating as it can possibly be. She told me to cut a small slit in the diaper til finally the whole backside of the diaper is gone (after several weeks) and then show my daughter that she is doing it in the potty even with the diaper on. Sounds nuts to me, but I am learning perspective, and the difference of theirs to mine is so huge, that just about anything is possible. So anyways, I wish you the best of luck. If you find a cure for the potty time blues pls share! LOL

Val

we started potty training at age 2. but he wasnt ready so we waited till he was 3-it was so much easier! he practically did it all on his own. we would take him with us to the potty whenever we went then it would be his turn. then if he went we would do the "potty dance" and he would get to pick out a spongebob sticker (his favorite character) and he would put it on the toilet seat itself. (on the inside to where when the lid is shut you cant see the stickers)
anyways the inside of my toilet lid is covered with sponge bob-lol but now he just goes all on his own all the time. getting him to poop in the potty was a big challenge, i remember it was so hard to get him to do it. he would always ask for a diaper when he had to poop, and would get mad and constipate himself if i didnt put one on him. well one day we were in a store and he had to poop. i grabbed a glass bottle of orange soda off the shelf (which caleb for some reason loves glass bottles) and i sat it outside the bathroom. then we went in and i told him to poop in the potty first and then he could have the orange soda. that was the first time he ever pooped in the potty and after that he would just go all the time. he still wets himself at night, but i dont expect him to hold his bladder all night yet. im so proud of what hes accomplished already. i just put night pants on him at night (there like depends for kids) then i tell him to try and stay dry.
anyways, good luck! it will happen!