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Hello, I'm a long term sub aide in a moderate CD classroom. Although, I taught special education for over 30 years this is the first time that I've had a student with this problem.
Warning: Don't continue reading if you don't want to read about poop.
This boy has frequent (4 to 6) somewhat loose, messy bowel movements in his diapers every school day. The difficulty comes when you are trying to clean his bottom. If you wipe with a wet wipe more poop keeps coming out, so you need to use another wet wipe and then MORE POOP comes out, on and on, for usually 10 minutes (sometimes even longer, on Friday one changing time took 25 minutes). It is almost like he is just used to continuously pooping standing up. If he sits on the toilet he doesn't continue pooping, just when you are trying to clean him while he is standing. If we have him keep his diaper on longer he usually doesn't continue pooping. Sorry to be graphic but more poop comes out when we gently clean him.
Since he is 11 (or maybe 12) years old and quite large for his age it is a lot of BM each time and an amazing large amount of BM during the whole school day. It also takes two people to do this (one to keep him from moving around, grabbing the poop, etc and one to actually clean him and change his diaper). Needless to say doing this 4 to 6 times a school day is taking away from the education of the other children in the classroom. Many times there are only two adults in the room so the other children just have to sit and wait.
The other aides and teachers have never had a child that does this so we are at a loss what to do to help the situation. All the students that I have had with a similar cognitive level were all out of diapers by age 8 so i'm wondering if it is just a bad habit to poop standing up? Is it a way of getting extra attention? A possible medical problem? Something related to his autism? ??????
The parent is not very cooperative so we really can't work with her. She says that she is "too busy" to work on toilet training with him at home.
Any suggestions? Have anyone else had a child that does this?
While I don't have any suggestions about how to clean him up, I wonder if he would respond to the toilet training dvd from the Australian government. It comes in video tape and DVD format (one for the US and Canada and one for Europe). There is also a resource manual, but it is pretty expensive. And there is a packet that includes several resources (again, expensive). I don't know if your school would buy this, but it is a fantastic resource for toilet training special needs people both children and adults. The animation often gets through to children who are visual, but don't have a lot of receptive language.
This DVD includes the popular animation 'Tom's Toilet Triumph' and an 'Are You Ready?' short film for parents/carers. A frank and humorous look at what happens in 'the smallest room', 'Tom's Toilet Triumph' is suitable for all ages. The short film discusses issues faced by parents/carers when toilet training an older child.
Might this child have Celiac disease, or irritable bowel syndrome, or other food allergies which are contributing to his problem? Can you contact his pediatrician, with the mother's permission? She sounds like quite a piece of work, btw - "too busy", my foot!
While I don't have any suggestions about how to clean him up, I wonder if he would respond to the toilet training dvd from the Australian government. It comes in video tape and DVD format (one for the US and Canada and one for Europe). There is also a resource manual, but it is pretty expensive. And there is a packet that includes several resources (again, expensive). I don't know if your school would buy this, but it is a fantastic resource for toilet training special needs people both children and adults. The animation often gets through to children who are visual, but don't have a lot of receptive language.
Wow, that is a lot of poop for 1 day. I don't think that is normal and he should be checked out by a physican. Being Autistic he should qualify for an aide that would care for him and do this so you could educate and not have to.
Wow, that is a lot of poop for 1 day. I don't think that is normal and he should be checked out by a physican. Being Autistic he should qualify for an aide that would care for him and do this so you could educate and not have to.
That's what we say!
If you read my "vent" post under teaching you can see why we are having problems getting a 1 to 1 aide. Not only is Administration NOT on our side but he is a violent, rough, extremely difficult child to have in the classroom.
I was hoping that it we solve this problem it would make it a little easier on everyone.
I'll suggest to the teacher checking with Mom on more of a medical aspect.
Look into the condition known as "megacolon", in which the colon can become stretched from too much "retention", the explosive movements can occur. It can be treated without too much difficulty, but with a lot of patience and consistency.
If you read my "vent" post under teaching you can see why we are having problems getting a 1 to 1 aide. Not only is Administration NOT on our side but he is a violent, rough, extremely difficult child to have in the classroom.
I was hoping that it we solve this problem it would make it a little easier on everyone.
I'll suggest to the teacher checking with Mom on more of a medical aspect.
Thank you to everyone.
I've had students like that before. It was a side effect of medication. Is he able to learn to clean himself up?
Throwing poop at the teacher only happened that one day and hasn't happened since then (thankfully). He still tries to put his hand in his poopy diaper (and in the toilet, too).
Mom came to school today to go over a Behavior Intervention Plan and the teacher talked with her a little about bathroom issues after the meeting. He is not on any medications.
Mom said that she hasn't let him try to wipe himself as she didn't think he was ready. Hmmm, he is 11 years old now, I wonder when she thought he would be ready?
The teacher and Mom agreed to focus on his behavior now and once that was under control to work on toilet training and bathroom issues.
Clarification: After talking more to the teacher and aide, apparently he goes through periods of 4 to 6 dirty diapers a day for a few weeks then maybe only 2 or 3 dirty diapers a day for a few weeks with an occasional day or two with only 1 dirty diaper. It just seems like 4 to 6 dirty diapers every day.
Whether he can have an aide is not up to administration of the school and they shouldn't be the ones deciding on this. How on earth can the school think it is your job, as the teacher, to deal with this every day? My youngest son grew up with a seriously autistic boy in his class. He had a full-time aide in class every day. He had the same aide all through gradeschool. There is no way that you should be trying to deal with this and also teach your students.
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