Re: Social Stories and Rewards for Potty Training?

[Guest guest]

Not sure about the social story for potty training, i used rewards. I was just very clear with the rules. i let my kids know ahead of time that the rules would change as they learned use the potty. at first it was a tootsie roll for just sitting, then they had to do something on it to go, then it was they had to use the potty for certain blocks of time then it was a day, 2days and so on. so they had to do more to get the reward. I would just keep reitterating the new rule when it changed. My son trained later than his big sister. she was about 2 and 1/2 he was over 3.

I hope this helps.

mom of Jonny 6 with ADHD TS and aspergers and 12 with CF.

( ) Social Stories and Rewards for Potty Training?

Hi guys,I am gearing up to start (re-start, really) trying to potty train my 3 1/4 year old son when he is on Christmas break starting Monday. I have been told by several people that a social story about potty training would be a good tool. While I have written other social stories for him in the past, I am not quite sure how to write on this topic. Does anyone have a good one they could share?I am also wondering about the reward system of potty training, where the child gets a little something for sitting on the potty, more for peeing, and then a bigger prize for pooping (my friend did it with M & Ms - 1, 3, or 5, depending on what her son did). We tried a sticker reward chart during a previous potty training attempt, and it was not a useful motivator. I am thinking about trying with some of those chewy fruit snacks this time around. My son really loves them, and we do not usually keep them in the house. My concern is what if they do turn out to be a good motivator, and then he expects to get a reward every time he uses the potty from now until eternity? In general, we find that we have to be careful about doing anything special just once, because our son will assume that is the way it will always be going forward. Has anyone used this potty training method with success, and if so how did you wean off the rewards? Or would it be better not to have a set reward promised in advance, but to surprise him with the treat if he uses the potty? Or no reward at all except lots of applause?Thanks for all of your help - I have a feeling we will need it!Bridget

[Guest guest]

Thanks, . It is helpful to hear that the rewards worked for you, and that

you were also able to wean off of the rewards. I will give it a try!

Bridget

>

>

>

> Not sure about the social story for potty training, i used rewards.  I was

just very clear with the rules.   i let my kids know ahead of time that the

rules would change as they learned use the potty.  at first it was a tootsie

roll for just sitting, then they had to do something on it to go, then it

was they had to use the potty for certain blocks of time   then it was a day,

2days and so on.  so they had to do more to get the reward.  I would just

keep reitterating the new rule when it changed.  My son trained later than his

big sister.  she was about 2 and 1/2 he was over 3.

>

> I hope this helps.

>

>

>

> mom of Jonny 6 with ADHD TS and aspergers and 12 with CF.

>

>

> ( ) Social Stories and Rewards for Potty Training?

>

>  

>

>

>

>

> Hi guys,

>

> I am gearing up to start (re-start, really) trying to potty train my 3 1/4

year old son when he is on Christmas break starting Monday. I have been told by

several people that a social story about potty training would be a good tool.

While I have written other social stories for him in the past, I am not quite

sure how to write on this topic. Does anyone have a good one they could share?

>

> I am also wondering about the reward system of potty training, where the child

gets a little something for sitting on the potty, more for peeing, and then a

bigger prize for pooping (my friend did it with M & Ms - 1, 3, or 5, depending on

what her son did). We tried a sticker reward chart during a previous potty

training attempt, and it was not a useful motivator. I am thinking about trying

with some of those chewy fruit snacks this time around. My son really loves

them, and we do not usually keep them in the house. My concern is what if they

do turn out to be a good motivator, and then he expects to get a reward every

time he uses the potty from now until eternity? In general, we find that we have

to be careful about doing anything special just once, because our son will

assume that is the way it will always be going forward. Has anyone used this

potty training method with success, and if so how did you wean off the rewards?

Or would it be better not to have a set reward promised in advance, but to

surprise him with the treat if he uses the potty? Or no reward at all except

lots of applause?

>

> Thanks for all of your help - I have a feeling we will need it!

>

> Bridget

>

[Guest guest]

We used a social story to help my son get over the final hurdle to become fully

potty trained. My son was a bit older than yours - 4.5. He no longer wet his

pants but would not poop in the potty. His preschool teacher wrote the story. It

went something like this:

X is a big boy now.

Big boys use the toliet.

X is a big boy now and big boys use the toliet.

Big boys have clean pants.

X's teacher is happy when he has clean pants.

His mom & dad are happy when he has clean pants.

X is happy to have clean pants too!

She wrote it up and we illustrated it with clip art and pictures cut from

magazines (very difficult to find a picture of a toliet 11+ years ago). Within @

a week my son was fully potty trained.

We used rewards too but they weren't too effective with my son. To get him over

the first hurdle of potty training we stopped using the pull up diapers and

switched to underwear. My son really didn't like the feeling of wet underwear so

trained fairly quickly for that part of potty training. Of course it meant a lot

of cleaning up during those first few days before he got it.

>

> Hi guys,

>

> I am gearing up to start (re-start, really) trying to potty train my 3 1/4

year old son when he is on Christmas break starting Monday. I have been told by

several people that a social story about potty training would be a good tool.

While I have written other social stories for him in the past, I am not quite

sure how to write on this topic. Does anyone have a good one they could share?

>

> I am also wondering about the reward system of potty training, where the child

gets a little something for sitting on the potty, more for peeing, and then a

bigger prize for pooping (my friend did it with M & Ms - 1, 3, or 5, depending on

what her son did). We tried a sticker reward chart during a previous potty

training attempt, and it was not a useful motivator. I am thinking about trying

with some of those chewy fruit snacks this time around. My son really loves

them, and we do not usually keep them in the house. My concern is what if they

do turn out to be a good motivator, and then he expects to get a reward every

time he uses the potty from now until eternity? In general, we find that we have

to be careful about doing anything special just once, because our son will

assume that is the way it will always be going forward. Has anyone used this

potty training method with success, and if so how did you wean off the rewards?

Or would it be better not to have a set reward promised in advance, but to

surprise him with the treat if he uses the potty? Or no reward at all except

lots of applause?

>

> Thanks for all of your help - I have a feeling we will need it!

>

> Bridget

>

[Guest guest]

A social story would be great. I wrote one many years ago for my ds. I just took pictures and a small photo album - those little $1 plastic brag books. I think I wrote a few pages about what a big boy he was and had examples. Then I wrote how he would put his pee pee in the potty. We even had a "pee pee in the potty" song we sang during, kind of a "cha cha cha" tune. lol.

I don't think you should worry about having to reward him for going potty forever. Eventually, he's going to go on his own and not even involve you in the process. I would use rewards after the process and as a special surprise for him and not a promise for doing it. Then pair it with more hugging, delightful praise and leave the emphasis on that. Rewarding intermittently is often more helpful. But yes, it can be hard with one that young who will expect something. But I think once he masters it, you will be able to drop the rewards. Especially if you put more focus on verbal praise and lots of cheering and hugs.

When I worked with a little guy with more severe autism, we used a lot of rewards and he did eventually go to the bathroom without getting rewards. But for a while, we did reward every time to keep him interested and encouraged.

Roxanna

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Jefferson

( ) Social Stories and Rewards for Potty Training?

Hi guys,

I am gearing up to start (re-start, really) trying to potty train my 3 1/4 year old son when he is on Christmas break starting Monday. I have been told by several people that a social story about potty training would be a good tool. While I have written other social stories for him in the past, I am not quite sure how to write on this topic. Does anyone have a good one they could share?

I am also wondering about the reward system of potty training, where the child gets a little something for sitting on the potty, more for peeing, and then a bigger prize for pooping (my friend did it with M & Ms - 1, 3, or 5, depending on what her son did). We tried a sticker reward chart during a previous potty training attempt, and it was not a useful motivator. I am thinking about trying with some of those chewy fruit snacks this time around. My son really loves them, and we do not usually keep them in the house. My concern is what if they do turn out to be a good motivator, and then he expects to get a reward every time he uses the potty from now until eternity? In general, we find that we have to be careful about doing anything special just once, because our son will assume that is the way it will always be going forward. Has anyone used this potty training method with success, and if so how did you wean off the rewards? Or would it be better not to have a set reward p romised in advance, but to surprise him with the treat if he uses the potty? Or no reward at all except lots of applause?

Thanks for all of your help - I have a feeling we will need it!

Bridget

[Guest guest]

Another idea is to incorporate a special interest into the process. My son was 4

and obsessed with numbers. He was happy to keep a running total of how many

times he used the potty. He stopped counting around 110 We did use rewards at

first as well.

So, if you son loves trains, how about printing out a bunch of them from

the internet, cutting and taping one to his wall each time, trying to make it

all the way round the room? Or something to that effect...you get the idea.

There's a natural endpoint to it then as well, and hopefully he'd be fully

trained by that time.

TJ

>

> Hi guys,

>

> I am gearing up to start (re-start, really) trying to potty train my 3 1/4

year old son when he is on Christmas break starting Monday. I have been told by

several people that a social story about potty training would be a good tool.

While I have written other social stories for him in the past, I am not quite

sure how to write on this topic. Does anyone have a good one they could share?

>

> I am also wondering about the reward system of potty training, where the child

gets a little something for sitting on the potty, more for peeing, and then a

bigger prize for pooping (my friend did it with M & Ms - 1, 3, or 5, depending on

what her son did). We tried a sticker reward chart during a previous potty

training attempt, and it was not a useful motivator. I am thinking about trying

with some of those chewy fruit snacks this time around. My son really loves

them, and we do not usually keep them in the house. My concern is what if they

do turn out to be a good motivator, and then he expects to get a reward every

time he uses the potty from now until eternity? In general, we find that we have

to be careful about doing anything special just once, because our son will

assume that is the way it will always be going forward. Has anyone used this

potty training method with success, and if so how did you wean off the rewards?

Or would it be better not to have a set reward promised in advance, but to

surprise him with the treat if he uses the potty? Or no reward at all except

lots of applause?

>

> Thanks for all of your help - I have a feeling we will need it!

>

> Bridget

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the tips, Roxanna and TJ. We started the potty training today, and I

did write a social story. At OT I also made one of those laminated charts

showing the basic steps of using the potty to hang in the bathroom. And I am

using some fruit chews as motivation, which so far has been a big hit. They are

alphabet chews, and my son is obsessed with letters, so he was super excited to

earn a few. I was kind of thinking about something along the lines of your train

idea, TJ - I found a Christmas theme train that is made to stick on a window. It

is fairly long with lots of pieces, as well as the letters to spell Merry

Christmas. I was thinking of letting my son put a piece on the window when he

uses the potty and suggesting he try to earn all the parts to complete it by the

time Santa comes. Trains + Santa seems like it could be a pretty powerful

motivator. It is good to hear that eventually they get past needing the reward

each time.

Bridget

> >

> > Hi guys,

> >

> > I am gearing up to start (re-start, really) trying to potty train my 3 1/4

year old son when he is on Christmas break starting Monday. I have been told by

several people that a social story about potty training would be a good tool.

While I have written other social stories for him in the past, I am not quite

sure how to write on this topic. Does anyone have a good one they could share?

> >

> > I am also wondering about the reward system of potty training, where the

child gets a little something for sitting on the potty, more for peeing, and

then a bigger prize for pooping (my friend did it with M & Ms - 1, 3, or 5,

depending on what her son did). We tried a sticker reward chart during a

previous potty training attempt, and it was not a useful motivator. I am

thinking about trying with some of those chewy fruit snacks this time around. My

son really loves them, and we do not usually keep them in the house. My concern

is what if they do turn out to be a good motivator, and then he expects to get a

reward every time he uses the potty from now until eternity? In general, we find

that we have to be careful about doing anything special just once, because our

son will assume that is the way it will always be going forward. Has anyone used

this potty training method with success, and if so how did you wean off the

rewards? Or would it be better not to have a set reward promised in advance, but

to surprise him with the treat if he uses the potty? Or no reward at all except

lots of applause?

> >

> > Thanks for all of your help - I have a feeling we will need it!

> >

> > Bridget

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Update: my son took the social story I wrote for him about using the potty and

" drowned " it in the bathroom sink to the point where it was soaked beyond

repair. Do you think he was trying to tell me something?

> > >

> > > Hi guys,

> > >

> > > I am gearing up to start (re-start, really) trying to potty train my 3 1/4

year old son when he is on Christmas break starting Monday. I have been told by

several people that a social story about potty training would be a good tool.

While I have written other social stories for him in the past, I am not quite

sure how to write on this topic. Does anyone have a good one they could share?

> > >

> > > I am also wondering about the reward system of potty training, where the

child gets a little something for sitting on the potty, more for peeing, and

then a bigger prize for pooping (my friend did it with M & Ms - 1, 3, or 5,

depending on what her son did). We tried a sticker reward chart during a

previous potty training attempt, and it was not a useful motivator. I am

thinking about trying with some of those chewy fruit snacks this time around. My

son really loves them, and we do not usually keep them in the house. My concern

is what if they do turn out to be a good motivator, and then he expects to get a

reward every time he uses the potty from now until eternity? In general, we find

that we have to be careful about doing anything special just once, because our

son will assume that is the way it will always be going forward. Has anyone used

this potty training method with success, and if so how did you wean off the

rewards? Or would it be better not to have a set reward promised in advance, but

to surprise him with the treat if he uses the potty? Or no reward at all except

lots of applause?

> > >

> > > Thanks for all of your help - I have a feeling we will need it!

> > >

> > > Bridget

> > >

> >

>