I know what your thinking. I can’t do this. I don’t care if she wears diapers until she’s 18. How can I get her to do what she needs to do in the potty? How do I do this? Where do I begin? I would rather have root-canal than Potty train my special needs kid. Why do I know what you are thinking? I have a daughter with Down syndrome who is 7 and we just got her potty trained and all of those thoughts ran through my head before and during potty training. But if you stick with me here and follow these steps you too will be on the other side of the lurking doom of potty training your special needs kid.

Before you begin you are going to need a few things, here is what worked for us. You do what works for you and your child.

My daughter loves to look at herself so I bought a full length mirror on amazon and put it smack in front of the toilet.

Next up we purchased a Baby Alive doll that pees on the potty, so she could actually see where the pee goes. I told you whatever works here folks. It’s survival mode you have to do whatever works.

Simplicity is key here, no fluff no fuss, just plain and simple. Keep your phrases to the following (oh and accompany with pictures if your kid is non-verbal).

A) Pee

B) Poop

C) Pee & Poop go in the potty

D) No Pee or Poop on the floor

E) Where do Pee and Poop go?

F) Flush

G) Wash hands

NO MORE DIAPERS OR PULL-UPS

Ok, I know, I know, the thought of puddles of pee and piles of poop all over your home can be daunting and you may be tempted to put the pull ups back on. DON’T DO IT! Trust me you will thank me. Once you put on the undies there is NO LOOKING BACK!

There will be accidents, lots of accidents. No really lots of accidents. Lots of disgusting, smelly accidents. It’s going to be hard, really really hard.

DON’T GET UPSET ABOUT ACCIDENTS

When she pees everywhere and your home starts smelling like a gas station bathroom, you are going to be upset. Don’t let her see you sweat! You need to be freaking Mary Poppins while wiping up pee and crap off the floor.

7 TIMES METHOD (or whatever the heck it’s called) Here’s where it gets super fun, no not really, just trying to make you feel better. So here we go. When she has an accident on the floor you must walk her back and forth from accident and say “No pee on the floor.” to the potty and say “Where does the pee go?” SEVEN TIMES. Yes you read that right, I said 7 times. You are probably thinking that’s crazy and you’d be right. It is crazy, crazy enough to actually work. It freaking works but it is also EXHAUSTING!

REWARD THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR KID

This accomplishment is a really big deal, so make it a really big deal. For us rewards looked like this…

Every time she went on the potty, she got Cheerios, no seriously Cheerios. Hey we tried M & M’s and it didn’t work but Cheerios. Girlfriend would move mountains for some Cheerios. Why? I’m not really sure but you gotta do what works and this worked. Also she LOVES Peppa Pig, so when we finally reached the end where we felt she got it, she got the biggest Peppa Pig House I could find.

Let’s back up for a minute! While she is peeing and pooping in the potty you need to make it seem like it is the greatest thing she’s EVER done. I’m talking songs, cheers, dancing. Let me give you an example. We decided to test out the training because family was in town and we had been in the house for. 4 weeks. So we went to Disney and put a pull up on her just in case, I know I said no pull-ups put hey I was going stir crazy and needed to get out of the house. Seriously 4 weeks in the house, 4 WEEKS! Anyhoo, we got to Disney and for the first time she said “Potty time” and I was like “You have to go Potty?” And she said “YES!” So we ran to the nearest bathroom, pulled down her pull-up (which was dry by the way) and she peed on the toilet. I swear to you I heard angels singing. When she was done and we exited the stall we had the biggest dance party right there in a bathroom in Disney. People were looking at us like we were bonkers. Did I care? NOPE! I wanted to shout on top of my lungs, “My kid just told me she had to pee on the potty, and she peed on the potty.” I made a huge deal and let her pick out a stuffed animal before we left. This was HUGE and she needed to know it was huge.

So here we are 8 weeks later and she is completely potty trained, in total it took about 4 weeks. You must be strong and follow through and you will make it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel I promise you.