My son has ADHD and post traumatic stress disorder- I adopted him 2 years ago and at that time he still would not use the bathroom and would constantly go in the bed. He is on medication and this is what I read about and have tried for the bathroom issues- Over the last 3 months we have no accidents during the day- he is asked to go several times a day at the beginning of when we started this whole trainng purpose- now he goes without being asked to go- thankfully He is only six soon to be seven.

As far as the night time stuff it is less and less- I use to make a big deal about it- he does wear nighttime pull ups- his water or liquid intake is restricted and he goes to the bathroom before bed. Usually 4 out of 7 nights are dry- if he is in a new place or another home he is not- I do not make a big deal of it- he goes in changes clothes if needs too- changes sheets if needs to - no discussion he just does it-

I found for us the more of a deal I made out of it the more he did it- so I do not make a deal out of it- there are several mornings- I have walked in his room and he is taking off the sheets and headed to the washer.

It is time taking task and patience on this one-

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My son is 8 years old has add and takes adderall, which for the most part, helps him have a pretty normal life.His big problem is wetting during the day,this happens at school,church,or home.He generally does not acknowledge that it has happened and we have to prompt him to clean himself and change.I have taken him to a uriologist who has given him a clean bill of health.He does not seem ashamed or embarased or bothered by having urine on his clothes.Most recently he had a bowel movement at school in his pants.My son also wets his bed at night,but he sleeps very hard.I just notice that my son's overall concern of general hygeine is pretty terrible.I am glad to know I am not the only mom having this problem.What puzzles me is that the physicans have not made a connection between add and day time wetting.My son always had day time accidents,even before he was diagnosed and given meds.If he does not take his meds the problem only gets worse and he will have twice as many "accidents".I definately think that add and day time wetting are connected.If any one has a similar story please share.I am desprate to find a solution for my son.

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I am so glad to read all these notes. We have been dealing with this, to varying degrees of severity, for the past 3-4 years. I have had days where I feel so desperate and alone. Currently my son is 8 and has wetting accidents every day at school and wears a pull-up at night. Sometimes he will poo in his pull-up while he is awake and reading in his room. He'll keep the pull-up on, oblivious to the smell and the fact that it is completely inappropriate. We try, try, try not to shame him or make a big deal, but as I'm sure you can relate to, it is VERY difficult sometimes. At school he avoids poo accidents right now, but it has been a struggle just to get to this point. Our situation began in kindergarten. He is extremely introverted and 1) did not like to go to the potty which was in the room, and 2) did not like to have to ask his teacher if he could go. So he just wouldn't go. He also would get hyper-involved in an activity. He got constipated, was pooing/peeing daily at school, etc... Got that under control, but now...still working on it. So...here's what our psychologist said to us about 3 months ago, and it makes sense. His ADHD prevents his brain from discerning the importance of various signals. The sensory input is not differentiated...for example, the inputs could be noise from brother singing feeling of needing to pee pleasure at creating cool Leggo structure thirst excitement because neighbor boy is out front the cut on my finger hurts... etc.... All these stimuli are given equal weight and then acted upon only based on one thing...what gives me the most pleasure? Well, going to the bathroom, while hopefully not a negative experience (yet), is not high on the list...so, it's ignored until, whoops! it's too late. But then, how come he's not embarrassed? Doesn't that motivate him? Because that feeling too is judged in the same way the other stimuli were, and the fear of the negative is not as strong as the desire to achieve the positive...so, he again will go for the most pleasureable stimuli. So, he'll pee in his underwear and then decide to go play with the neighbor boy in wet clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!! Play with friend versus change stinky, wet underwear...Easy choice! His brain is just not able (yet) to discriminate stimuli based on internal guidelines other than pleasure, it has to be trained. I'm sorry this is so long. But here's the solution (I hope)...the basics of potty training. Staying dry, responding to the pee stimui, has to become SO SUPER REWARDING that his brain will send a strong message to STOP what he's doing and go pee. You got it, rewarding an 8 year old boy for going pee-pee on the potty. It feels so counterintuitive. But the thing is, you have to stick to it, and the reward has to be REALLY REALLY GOOD, and you have to stick to it. Did I mention you have to stick to it? That's my problem. After awhile, I'm like...just go! And stop asking me for marshmellows!!!!!!!!!!!!! But the idea of it all makes complete sense, so we're going to implement it 1000% over the summer. I'll let you know...

What do you think? Any feedback?

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