From the 2021 PHRF Conference Parent Panel Presentation on Toilet Training:

Training Process for Victor, age 15

Stage of toilet training: fully, daytime only, time-trained, partial, needs help wiping, etc.
Victor is toilet trained during the daytime. He is both time-trained, meaning we take him on a schedule, every 2-3 hours, and he also lets us know he needs to go to the toilet with a “grunting” sound (for pee or poop). He wears regular underwear during the day. At night, he wears a diaper and pads for extra coverage. We do wake him up about 11 or 11:30 pm to urinate in the toilet, then wakes up at 7:30 or 8:00 am for the day, and urinates in the toilet then. Typically his diaper is wet in the morning, but he has not soaked through his diaper.

Training process:
When you started
When Victor was 2, his physical therapist suggested sitting Victor on the toilet when he strained to poop, because it would make it easier to push, with his bottom positioned lower than his knees on the potty, kind of like squatting. We would rush him to the bathroom as soon as he started to strain.
When Victor turned 3 and started preschool, we coordinated our efforts with his teacher and made a big push to begin training. I had been a special ed teacher in the past for 3 year olds with and without disabilities. We always worked on potty training for our students, no matter what physical or developmental delay they had. So I knew we wanted to do the same for Victor.

Method/process of training
I essentially used the same method of toilet training for Victor as I did for my 2 older girls, except it took much longer. We used a schedule and started taking Victor to the potty about every hour, and also after waking and meals. We gradually were able to extend this time. If we saw any signs of pushing, we would rush him to the potty also. This was a big time commitment, but totally worth it for our family. We also used Skittles candy for a reward for just sitting on the potty for a few minutes at first, then when he was able to pee or poop. Victor really liked this reward—but any small reward that your child likes would work.

Useful materials—toilet or potty chair, pull-ups or diapers, rewards, etc.
We used a regular toilet with Victor, and sat on a stool or small chair in front of him. By using a regular toilet, we were able to carry over his training to any toilet. We used one or two skittles for a reward.

If child is communicating when they need to toilet, what type of communication-picture symbol, gesture, sound, word, etc.
At the beginning of Victor’s training, to try and get him to poop or pee, I would make a grunting sound. Eventually he began to make this sound on his own when he wanted to go to the bathroom.

Challenges to the training process
The biggest challenge to training was the time we had to put into it.

How long was your training process, and any setbacks and how to address them, etc.
I would say we had some good progress within a couple of years, but he has gotten better and better as time goes on. For a long time we had him wear pull ups, “Just in case,” but then we became comfortable with them and didn’t take him to the potty as often. Around the time Vic started to have seizures, about 10, he regressed some. Later when we found the right combination of epilepsy medication for him, he was able to get back on track with his toilet training. At about 13 he started to have skin issues in his diaper area. At that point the dermatologist convinced us to go to regular underwear, and the skin issues resolved. We are thrilled with all that our son has accomplished with is toilet training, and so is Victor!