How do I request toileting support like diaper changes at school?

If your child is not toilet trained and needs bathroom assistance at school, there are multiple ways the school might choose to handle it. If your child already has a 1:1 aide, some school districts will ask the 1:1 aide to assist with toileting and diaper changes. Some school districts will assign a specially trained 1:1 aide or have a special education teacher do it. Sometimes, the child doesn’t have an aide; they get assistance from a paraeducator who floats between classrooms. Your child may be asked to use the health office bathroom or go to the nurse for toileting assistance.

Talk with your child's IEP team about what solutions are possible, and make sure the extra support is written into the IEP. You can learn about specific types of aides in this article.

If your child is working on transitioning out of diapers but still needs support at school, you can write an IEP goal to help develop toileting skills. Education advocate Lisa Carey recommends that the toileting goal avoid focusing on output (i.e. voiding into a toilet) and instead focus on following a routine: Go into the bathroom, pull down pants, sit on toilet, etc. You could document in the IEP that staff offers the bathroom to your child approximately once an hour or something similar.