How did you teach your kids to wipe themselves properly after going to the loo ??

Baybee1984

Ive worked in schools/nurseries etc and believe me, it wont just be YOUR child that gets himself in a mess sometimes! Dont be afraid of approaching the teacher

galvanizersbaby

I told my 2 to wipe until the paper is clean with toilet paper at school but at home they use baby wipes.
I always say to wash their hands with soap after.

Sometimes they come back with slighty dodgy pants :eek: but I'm hoping their wiping skills will improve with time (they are 4 and just turned 6 at the mo)

shazrobo

Zziggi wrote: »

This is a useful thread as I am having the same probs but with my DS who is 6!! When he was toilet trained we did everything you lot have wrote in the earlier posts. Then he started school and he comes home in a real mess ALL THE TIME. He does suffer from diahorrea a lot (which apparently a lot of ASD kids do) but his pants are always in a right mess. I have tried telling him again how do sort himself out at school, DH has tried repeatedly too but we just don;t knwo what to do. I am absolutely loathed to mention it to the school because (a) it is embarrassing and (b) i am not sure what they could do about it.

Any suggestions (please!!)

have you tried discussing this with the school nurse?
i have two asd sons, so i know how frustrating it can be

Zziggi

shazrobo wrote: »

have you tried discussing this with the school nurse?
i have two asd sons, so i know how frustrating it can be

School nurse? have you ever tried getting hold of one?:D

I was told that the school nurse MUST see my DS as soon as he starts in reception class - 2 years later and after she'd cancelled a number of appointments she phones me up for a chat that lasted about 5 mins and consisted of her telling me which secondary school is best for special needs kids and that i should apply to it for when he is 11 years old!

A bit embarrassed at discussing it with the school although i have gently told them he has a few problems with his toileting needs and that there is always a full set of school uniform in a carrier bag at the bottom of his P.E. kit if they think he needs it.

onlyroz

If you use baby wipes, please don't flush them down the loo. We had to call out dynorod twice to deal with blocked drains and it was only after the second time that we realised it was down to flushing the wipes. The man fished out a whole wad of them from our pipe and told us in no uncertain terms that if it happened again we'd be charged for the callout (which are free because they're covered by our British Gas homecare agreement). A standard dynorod callout for blocked drains is around £100.

galvanizersbaby

onlyroz wrote: »

If you use baby wipes, please don't flush them down the loo. We had to call out dynorod twice to deal with blocked drains and it was only after the second time that we realised it was down to flushing the wipes. The man fished out a whole wad of them from our pipe and told us in no uncertain terms that if it happened again we'd be charged for the callout (which are free because they're covered by our British Gas homecare agreement). A standard dynorod callout for blocked drains is around £100.

I can 2nd this one! - my sister's OH works for a drainage firm and it is very common to be called to a baby wipe incident! :eek:

Nicki

Zziggi wrote: »

This is a useful thread as I am having the same probs but with my DS who is 6!! When he was toilet trained we did everything you lot have wrote in the earlier posts. Then he started school and he comes home in a real mess ALL THE TIME. He does suffer from diahorrea a lot (which apparently a lot of ASD kids do) but his pants are always in a right mess. I have tried telling him again how do sort himself out at school, DH has tried repeatedly too but we just don;t knwo what to do. I am absolutely loathed to mention it to the school because (a) it is embarrassing and (b) i am not sure what they could do about it.

Any suggestions (please!!)

Is he in mainstream or special school. If special, they'll have heard it all before! If mainstream, does he have an LSA? That might be easier and less embarrassing than speaking to the teacher.

Otherwise, you might need a social story or some rules for him. Eg that he must wipe his bottom and look at the paper, and keep wiping until the paper is clean. Or that he must wipe his bottom 5 times, if that would be easier. He needs something which is an invariable routine, then over time hopefully it will become second nature. If its a technique issue, then there are methods which OTs use to teach technique. Maybe you could get a referral to an OT for this, or perhaps your area has a continence adviser for children with special needs who could help?

It is important to get over your embarrassment about speaking to others about this and get it solved quickly, as your little one will smell foul if he is sitting in school with soiled pants, and this will lead quickly to him being the subject of at best nasty teasing and at worse bullying, which is the last thing you want with a child with a social communication problem. They won't get the hint if you just mention clean clothes - more likely will just think its for wetting accidents, and it would be a CP nightmare for them to check regularly whether he'd lightly soiled his pants without you first having told them that this was a problem which they needed to deal with, so you do need to be upfront, and agree with them what needs to be done, and what you want them to do to help him to master this new skill at school.

Threebabes

DD who is 5 next month has just started doing it herself the last week, and we check after. If she was loose I would definitley wipe her bum for her .

Mics_chick

Zziggi have you tried sending him to school with some wipes in a plastic bag or something he can put in his pocket ???
Sorry if this is a stupid idea but I don't have any experience of ASD kids but I just wanted to suggest it in case it helped

Zziggi

Nicki wrote: »

Is he in mainstream or special school. If special, they'll have heard it all before! If mainstream, does he have an LSA? That might be easier and less embarrassing than speaking to the teacher.

In mainstream school and he doesn't have any extra help in the classroom at all because as many ASD parents find, high functioning ASD child/intellectually OK child = has no problems (in the eyes of many schools).:rolleyes: :rolleyes: I was thinking of bringing it up at parents evening but feel embarrassed about it.

Nicki wrote: »

Otherwise, you might need a social story or some rules for him. Eg that he must wipe his bottom and look at the paper, and keep wiping until the paper is clean. Or that he must wipe his bottom 5 times, if that would be easier. He needs something which is an invariable routine, then over time hopefully it will become second nature.

Thank you, this is good advice. Only last night i was reminding him of the wipe-until-the-paper-has no-poo-on-it rule.

Nicki wrote: »

If its a technique issue, then there are methods which OTs use to teach technique. Maybe you could get a referral to an OT for this, or perhaps your area has a continence adviser for children with special needs who could help?

This is also good advice. Thanks. If it isn't too graphic, can you give me technique advice because he does struggle with getting his hand in the right place!

Nicki wrote: »

It is important to get over your embarrassment about speaking to others about this and get it solved quickly, as your little one will smell foul if he is sitting in school with soiled pants, and this will lead quickly to him being the subject of at best nasty teasing and at worse bullying, which is the last thing you want with a child with a social communication problem. They won't get the hint if you just mention clean clothes - more likely will just think its for wetting accidents, and it would be a CP nightmare for them to check regularly whether he'd lightly soiled his pants without you first having told them that this was a problem which they needed to deal with, so you do need to be upfront, and agree with them what needs to be done, and what you want them to do to help him to master this new skill at school.

You are right. He has a bath most nights to keep him "fresh" downstairs. He manages to use the loo to "expell" but anything left on his backside ends up on his pants. I am sure he often doesn;t even try and wipe. He doesn't smell (at the minute) but without his nightly baths then it might cause a problem. Apart from embarrassment, the reason i haven't mentioned it earlier to school is that i thought it would draw attention to his needs if i mentioned it and i thought he would master bum-wiping himself sooner.

Toileting needs is something else to stick on the list to bring up at parents' evening. Gosh they're gonna love me with my long list of things i want to discuss.....