{"id":2648,"date":"2016-08-19T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parenttraining.chip.uconn.edu\/?page_id=2648"},"modified":"2026-03-28T20:04:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T00:04:43","slug":"challenges-and-triumphs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parenttraining.chip.uconn.edu\/index.php\/challenges-and-triumphs\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges And Triumphs"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Respond to Accidents During the Training Sessions\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If your child has an accident at any point during time off the toilet, quickly bring her to the<\/p>\n

\"Used<\/a>
Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

bathroom. Have her finish urinating on the toilet. Reinforce your child for urinating on the toilet. Reinforce her even if only a little went into the toilet. It\u2019s OK to use the really good rewards for this partial urination on the toilet, in the beginning. You want your child to enjoy the reward. And to connect the reward with the act of urination\u00a0on the toilet.<\/p>\n

What to Do if You are Unable to Catch it in Time for\u00a0 Partial Success<\/h2>\n

If your child has a complete accident which you don\u2019t see until it\u2019s finished, remain calm. Don\u2019t react. Don\u2019t talk about the accident. Just bring your child to the bathroom to clean up. Act as if nothing has happened. Stay as neutral as you can. Stay close to your child throughout the training sessions. Try to watch her closely. That will help you catch any accidents as early as you can. The more closely you watch your child, the fewer and smaller the accidents should be.<\/p>\n

Continue to Reinforce Partial Success but Save your Best Rewards for the Bullseye!<\/h2>\n

Continue to reinforce even partial urination\u00a0on the toilet. Use your child\u2019s favorite reinforcers until she has her first success at beginning to pee while already sitting on the toilet.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0When that happens, give your child an even bigger amount of her favorite reinforcer. After the first time this happens, reward partial success a little differently. What if your child begins to\u00a0pee\u00a0when she is not on the toilet, but you get to the bathroom in time for some of it to go into the toilet? Praise your child and give her a small reward.\u00a0It should still be something she likes. Otherwise, it wouldn\u2019t be a reward! But save\u00a0your best and biggest rewards for when your child holds her urine\u00a0until she is sitting on the toilet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, let\u2019s repeat that:\u00a0When your child is learning\u00a0that urine goes in the toilet, give her a big reinforcer for just finishing urinating<\/strong> in the toilet. After your child has had a complete urination in the toilet at least once, continue reinforcing even just a few drops or finishing urinating in the toilet using a slightly less preferred reward or a smaller amount of a favorite reward. From then on, you will save your bigger or favorite reinforcer for when she gets all of the urine in the toilet.<\/strong><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here\u2019s an example. Say you are using Skittles as your special reward for toilet training. In the beginning you could give her 3 or 4 Skittles for finishing her urination in the toilet. Save Skittles only for toilet training. The very first time your child pees in the toilet from start to finish, you could give her 8 or 10 Skittles or even a whole \u201cmini snack bag\u201d of Skittles. After that, any time that she begins to pee in her underwear and only finishes in the toilet, give 1 or 2 Skittles for the partial urination in the toilet. Then, give more Skittles (5-8) when she holds her urine\u00a0until she is sitting on the toilet and does her whole urination\u00a0into the toilet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s an example of what you could use if your child happens to like Skittles or another similarly small sized treat:<\/strong><\/p>\n