Dry Bed Training Method in the Elimination of Bed-Wetting in Two Adults with Autism and Severe Mental Retardation

Abstract

Night-time bed-wetting, which occurred every night in 2 young women with autism and severe mental retardation, was treated using a dry bed training method. Training was carried out by night staff at the institution or, for a time, at the group home. Bed-wetting was almost completely eliminated over a period of a 2 months. Anecdotal follow-up showed that while the first participant remained dry during the next 9 years with less than 1 accident happening a week, the second participant had several lapses. If these occurrences of bed-wetting were treated with monitored post-training, bed-wetting was kept under control. If the post-training was discontinued, as happened 1 year after the start of the program, the bed-wetting returned to the original nightly occurrence.