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Toilet Training Carl I'm sure that one time or another, most of us have been told of our children's limits. Whether physical or mental, their
disabilities will keep them from achieving. So we were told. In our situation, our son, Carl, was diagnosed as being severely disabled; that educating him was a "waste of monies." Milestones
that parents of normal children look forward to as their children grow, we could not even expect to hope for. Like best flushing toilet reviews skateszone training. A little background on our beautiful son: Carl was born July 25, 1978. We took was a normal baby. Little did we know what was
ahead of us. When he was six months old, we became a little worried. He didn't appear to be developing because we thought he
should. Carl was observed. At eleven weeks, we'd Carl analyzed in the Winston Prouty Center at Brattleboro, Vermont, a pre-school for children with a wide
array of problems. He had been diagnosed as being developmentally delayed. (That's what they all tell you when they don't
understand what is wrong.) When he was 14 months old, he began attending the Prouty Center five days a week. This continued until
Carl was five years old. When Carl was just two, he had been seen by experts who informed us that he had suffered from some sort of harmful brain insult or
injury. They asked us if we had considred the nuclear power plant in our city as the cause. Whenever you don't know the cause, you
think about everything and anything. Was it something in our water? Can it be that the deodorant I used when I was pregnant? Was
it bad genes? Most of us go crazy with it. The pros recommended that my husband Bill and I opt for genetic counseling. At the moment, we thought that meant blood tests from
each of us which might tell us whose fault it was. How wrong we were! If nothing else comes from using a special needs kid, you
sure learn a lot. Now I even know what an IEP is! Finally, we wanted more replies, so we went for genetic counselling. The genetic specialist, Dr. Eugene Hoyme, was among the
kindest physicians we've fulfilled. (And we've seen many.) He asked us a lot of questions, quantified Carl's mind, studied his
head and ears and also looked at his fingerprints under a magnifying glass. Dr. Hoyme left the room for approximately five
minutes, which seemed like an eternity. He then came back with his diagnosis: Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. He looked at Carl's baby pictures and advised me that he'd have been diagnosed at birth, had anyone understood what they were
searching for. Many children with RTS have quite clear facial features and other wellness and bodily identifying characteristics
at birth. Carl had none of these, and there is still no concrete answer about what causes RTS. Enough of this. We all have our own stories and that is the way ours came to be. Carl attends a regular school in another town, using a self indulgent classroom for pupils with multiple disabilities. He is very
busy and requires constant supervision. His development was slow, but he's making progress. His level is about that of a two to
three year old, together with his speech and fine motor skills below this level and also his gross motor skills over it. 
TOILET TRAINING PLANNING In September of 1987, Carl got a new teacher, Jan.. She had extensive experience toilet - (best flushing toilet - Click here) training children with severe
disabilities. Jan sounded nice and she seemed to know her stuff. She said she hadn't seen a kid more prepared for training
compared to Carl. In his IEP meeting Jan asked us if our toilet was upstairs or down. I answered that we did not have a bathroom,
we had an outhouse! Her jaw dropped open and she had nothing to say. Then the college nurse talked and stated, "You did not know
you're at Vermont, did you Jan?" Jan had lately moved from Pennsylvania. She also gave us the publication, Toilet Training the Retarded, by Foxx and Asner. Did that mean our son was retarded? Must be. I
read the book. It was not the easiest book to read. Sort of like reading a manual on How to Clean Toilets. I received a basic
understanding of exactly what we're going to do with a couple alterations to match Carl's needs. Most of us have ways of coping with our kids, and humor is one of the tools we utilize. That is how we live. At the start, Jan
said to buy larger underpants than Carl would normally wear. I didn't even understand the size he would wear. I had never
purchased anything diapers--roughly 16,425 of them. Jan got her larger underpants. My sister has a costume shop and just happened to get a men's pair of BVD's in size 56. I put them
Carl's luggage and off to college they went. Thank God, Jan, too, can appreciate a little humor. THE EXPERIMENT BEGINS We started the bathroom training program on January 19, 1988. If we had known what we were actually in for we might not have
started. No achievement is minor though, and we understand what it takes for our kids to reach even the smallest goal. I seen
Carl's classroom on the first day of the program to acquire more directions. As I walked into the door, I almost cried. There he
had been sitting in the corner with Jan, a spoonful of food held to his mouth. She had been saying, "Carl wet, no eat." 
But Carl loves food. This was the program? This was what we would need to perform? No way! It seemed so barbaric and so cruel. I
have a soft spot when it comes to my oldest son. I can not do this to him. To make matters worse, my mother-in-law was with me.
She saw it too and I understand it hit her soft place for Carl. I found that the water welling up in her eyes. Part of this program was to give Carl just as much fluid as he'd take. He's never been a fantastic drinker, so this was definitely
going to be difficult. We gave him salty fluids to make him thirsty, and on the first day that he drank 72 oz of fluid. Compare
that with the 24 oz he usually beverages. There were six mishaps that first day, and a lot of Positive Practices. Positive Practice -- we arrived to despise those two words. Positive Practice is a six-step part of the program. To begin with,
make him feel that his wet underpants, then help him pull them down, then make him sit on the top 8 best flushing toilet price, catch him off the toilet.
Next, sit him on a chair and say, "Carl moist, no consume," while holding meals close to his mouth. Then start over in the very
best -- five times! Then there were the ironic checks every 30 seconds, making Carl feel his pants and saying, "Carl dry,
fantastic boy." We had to graph everything. How much he drank, when he voided, either in his trousers or in the restroom. Looking back over all of
his charts, I found a note I had written at 7 pm on the next day, "Bedtime, thank God." We spent so much time in the restroom, all
our period, except when Carl had a success. The bathroom was where we lived for more than we ever wanted to. Weekends were the toughest. Bill worked every one. We made arrangements to our son, Alex, to be away for the first few as it was
too extreme and, at three and a half, he would have a difficult time. It affected all of us. Bill would come home from work on the
weekends and I would be in tears saying, "Bill, I can not do this anymore." I'd even attempt to let him get his clothes changed
before saying anything, but I couldn't. He had been kinder than I would have been. I'm afraid I'd have called and said I have to
work, and sit in the car someplace! We would take thirty-two changes. Carl would become so frustrated, so angry, he would pull our hair and scratch our faces. He cried, I cried. 1 day I heard Alex
inform Carl, "You see that part of ham? You can't have it go pee-pee on the bathroom." One thing which really helped to preserve our sanity was college. Jan carried the burden of this program during the day while Carl
was at school. The program could not have succeeded with no involvement in this joint effort. There were days I just didn't need
to try anymore. Jan said it was taking more than she anticipated. Carl was so uncooperative. There were lots of times I was hoping
Jan would say, "This is not working, let us forget it for the time being." But I knew there was no turning back. The more
victories he had, the more determined we became. It was a battle of wills; that was likely to win? In the end we all did.
Especially Carl. Another part of the program -- a very significant one -- has been wages. Carl has a passion for magazines. He would kill for one.
He used to eat them and tear out the pages, and our flooring would be carpeted with pages of magazines. He just flicks mouths and
them the webpages. When he had a success, we'd give him a large fat magazine. Carl also enjoys music, so we used a video cassette of this group Highway 101 playing their songs. He must have watched the tape
400 times. He got so he would have a success, then go out of the restroom directly to the tv. Of all of the school years we have experienced, this one had more snow than any I can recall. Jan always showed up on these days.
I will never forget her for that. There were days my mom or Bill's would come over to help. And what a help just having someone to
speak to. We needed to be quite careful about what Carl viewed on tv. One time, he was watching a movie known as "Rat Boy." It was about a
monster who was half a rat, half boy. Carl was laughing so hard, he wet his trousers. Then there was "Ewoks" the sitter brought.
That you got put away. Then there was the cat. Alex wanted one badly. Carl was very mean to Kitty. He would carry the cat around by the tail, flicking it
like one of his magazines. The cat did not scratch Carl, so he'd chase that cat around the house laughing and wetting his pants.
This was well into May and Carl had had several weeks without accidents. Bye-bye, Kitty. We found a good home for the cat and I
really think Alex understood. There are sacrifices we all have to create on a daily basis, however this was a large one for Alex.
The kitty was not worth all the work we'd put into Carl's liberty, just to have him regress. Several months into the program, Carl was doing very great, with more successes in relation to accidents. We had to watch him
attentively, but perhaps not with all the high level of the prior months. 1 evening I was coming down the stairs, tripped, and
fell, twisting my ankle. I was on the ground in misery, and Carl was standing in my toes laughing so hard at me he wet his pants.
I couldn't wake up, my foot hurt so much better. All I could think was Positive Practice, Favorable Practice ... I need to do
Positive Practice. Eventually I stopped seeing stars, but the pee was running down the ground and I was becoming wet. Get up. .
.Positive Practice, Favorable Exercise! It's been over a year now. We cannot remember the last time that he had an crash. He has also learned to pull his underpants and
trousers on a verbal signal or a sign. A distinctive success, since fine motor abilities are among Carl's lower ability areas. In October of 1988, Carl went away to become gut trained as he has a lactose deficiency, causing very loose stools. He also needed
to be monitored at night. He's doing well; it's much easier than the pee training. He is about 80 percent there. We know he will
triumph; it may not be next week or next month, but ask us in annually. There's absolutely no time variable with our kids. Never
put a time limitation on our kids. One of Carl's biggest rewards came after I wrote to Highway 101 to inform them that without knowing it, they'd been a huge part of
Carl's achievement. They sent him an autographed picture of themselves. On parents' night in college, Jan hung out the picture in
the hallway with a note saying Carl had obtained this as a reward for a special accomplishment he'd made. And on Jan's desk is a
picture of Carl sitting on the bathroom with my sunglasses on, only smiling away. She only shows it to particular men and women.
People who understand.
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