Success at Home But
Not at School or Vice Versa

Sometimes a child is experiencing more success at school than he is at home. The child may be responding better to the consistent schedules, visual materials and resources available in the school setting. Consult with the teachers at school about the materials, schedules, routines, and cues they are using and ask if they can duplicate them for home training. You may need to adapt the school resources to fit your life at home.

To help the child generalize the school success to home, the educators can have the child use different bathrooms at school. Using the same words, concepts, and visuals at home that the school is using can also be helpful. Starting with small steps at home and practicing taking toilet trips to different bathrooms at home may help the child become more comfortable with new environments.

For some individuals, toilet training is easier to accomplish at home. School may involve expectations and demands that differ from home and may create some overstimulation, anxiety, or pressure. Regular communication between home and school is necessary so that parents can share what is working at home that might be implemented at school and vice versa. To maximize the child’s success, both settings should use the same language, materials, and schedule whenever possible. As the child makes progress, continued contact between home and school should include a discussion of how the child is doing and if there is a need for any changes in the plan.

If your child is still resistant to toilet training at home, you may decide to wait until routines are set and the child is having some success with the school program before starting at home.