Member Spotlight

Sean Paul Shaffer

Written by Heather Shaffer, Sean Paul’s Mom

My son Sean Paul was diagnosed with autism by the early age of four.  As all parents with special needs children the extra worries seemed endless.  One major concern was potty training.  After all, my two year old daughter was already out of diapers and she began to notice that her older brother wasn't.  I had tried using those expensive pull up's, you know the ones?  They have the cooling crystals and the picture that fades when wet.  Sean Paul didn't care.  The star chart didn't work either.

I bought a couple of books to help.  The focus was on starting a schedule; a schedule where the child would go to the bathroom at a certain time every day.  “Yeah right,” I thought, “I am a single mom who goes to school and works.  Even if a schedule is important something practical would be better.”  I started out by taking him to the potty three times a day.  I didn't want to overwhelm him.  Soon every ½ hour became a celebration.

Sean Paul is very musical.  I made up a song to let him know it was time to use the restroom.  It goes something like pee in the potty, pee in the potty, pee pee, pee pee in the potty!  When he sat on the seat we would both sing.  In the mean time I tried to keep him as dry as possible.  If he did go in his diaper I would still have him make a trip to the potty to be consistent.

One of the best signs I got was when he showed discomfort when he wet himself.  I knew from there on out it was just about consistency.  I started putting diapers on him less and less.  Soon I put them on only when we went out.  We used the public restrooms when Sean Paul needed to.  At home  he wore his favorite character underwear, Diego.  After about three to four months of  this I felt confident I could take him out in public with just underwear.

This process took a great amount of patience.  I washed a lot of soiled clothes and cleaned the floor when he made a mess in his underwear, sometimes three times a day.  It helped that I tried to make it as fun as possible.  Sometimes I just said, "Sean Paul, you do it because you got to do it".

I helped him through the whole bathroom experience; helping him take off his pants, flushing the toilet, and washing his hands.  It was very tedious at times, but the job was getting done.  I know he feels a great sense of independence from it all.

Though Sean Paul is still working on the fine tuning of wiping his own bottom, he has been potty trained for about three months now.  He even goes potty at night without me having to remind him.  He simply sings, “Pee pee in the potty!”

“Anything is possible when one puts their mind to it, even fostering basic human dignity.  This is an excellent story!!    Ron Preston, C.E.O., Capstone Health Plan