Read–Reflect–Discuss
Lazaro’s Potty Learning Experience
Lazaro’s mother shared with his teachers that Lazaro was becoming fairly consistent at going to the potty at home. Most of the time he did not need to wear diapers. The teachers commented that they had tried putting him in training pants a few times before, but he still had accidents so they stopped. As Lazaro is nearly five years old and will be transitioning into a general education kindergarten, both his mom and the teachers thought they should revisit toilet training at school, especially because he was having success at home. Maybe now he was ready. Everyone knew that if he was not successful in underwear, he would present a major challenge to the kindergarten teacher.
Lazaro’s teacher, Sarah, agreed to work with the early childhood special educator to prioritize this important goal. The first step was to take careful data to determine whether Lazaro’s bowel habits were regular and also to determine if Lazaro was currently using any communicative cues at school to indicate that he needed to go to the bathroom.
A simple recording system was devised. Lazaro’s favorite teacher, an assistant in the classroom, volunteered to take data. Every hour the assistant checked Lazaro to see if he had had a bowel movement. The teacher also recorded what Lazaro’s activity had been during the time period prior to the bowel movement. After three weeks, they could detect no regular pattern related to time. However, they noted that he was most likely to go following vigorous exercise of some kind. They also noted that he frequently stopped in the middle of whatever he was doing and put his hand briefly on his stomach.
After evaluating this data, a plan was devised in which they would watch him carefully following any energetic activity. As soon as he touched his stomach, the teacher would say in a very positive way, “Lazaro, let’s go to the bathroom!” Fairly quickly, Lazaro started looking for the teacher and trying to make eye contact when he felt the need to void. All the staff was particularly vigilant and sensitive to his cues, until he was consistently indicating his need to go and he could delay voiding until he went into the bathroom.
Read–Reflect–Discuss Questions
How might better communication between the school and the parents have been helpful in Lazaro’s toilet training at school?
