Our twins are at the beginning stages of showing some interest in toilet learning. Fun and overwhelming all at the same time. It is bringing back loads of memories from this phase with our oldest daughter, which took over a year. This was in the days before we understood anything about her challenges. We knew she wasn't talking like other kids her age, but we didn't know why. She did have some (unique) ways of communicating that got the message across. We felt like she was physically ready for toilet learning, but she wasn't taking the initiative. Having noticed that she learned things from stories (but again way before I had 
even heard of social stories) I checked My Big Girl Potty out from the local library. We renewed it as many times as we were allowed to, and then I bought a used copy from Amazon. I cannot even guess how many times we read it. Often we read it while "trying the potty" hoping she would make an even stronger connection. It is not a true social story because it is written about a little girl named Ashley, but any little girl could become instant friends because "Ashley is a girl just your age." who "...likes playing with toys and looking at books." The child follows Ashley's journey from diapers to potty chair and witnesses her first success (complete with surprised look on Ashley's face). The parent learns some suggestions like letting the child play with their stuffed animal trying the potty, and sitting with clothes on first to get acquainted-like. Ashley graduates to big girl pants, and even survives an accident with a calm and regulated Mommy and Daddy helping her clean up and reassuring her that she will remember next time. As pictured above there is also a boy version. I have not read that one (yet...will have to pick it up next library trip, though).Hindsight being 20/20 I'm sure we did a lot of things "wrong" with our daughter in this area. I often wish we had known earlier what was going on. If we had known, perhaps I would have looked at resources like these (and there are lots of others...try a google search) for assistance with this challenging transition:
- Toilet Training Children with Special Needs
- Rifton Toileting Systems
- Potty Training Your Special Needs Child
I'm glad we found My Big Girl Potty, though. It's definitely one thing we did right.
