Replies to '07/11 What’s Up, Doc?'

Encopresis is a true medical issue that involves physical AND emotional issues.  It can GREATLY affect the child and  their family.  They are loners which adds to the problem.  Parents must treat both aspects or the child won't get better.

I teach Special Education and I have only encountered one case in 22 years of teaching but it almost made me quit. If it hadn't been for a wonderful man, Tony Lowe,  who has two sons that suffered with this disorder. He rans the Encopresis Information Exchange in the United Kingdom and was a great source for me.  He even corresponded to the students in my classroom thru email to answer all their questions and frustrations regarding their classmate (who would soil daily).

My advice to any teacher dealing with a student with this disorder is to demand that the parent be ACTIVELY seeing physicans and mental health personnel, and that the school provide a private lockable restroom that the student can change and clean without embarrassment and talk to Tony!  Good luck!

This is a real condition that many kids have but it can be overcome.  People cannot just assume the kids arent "potty trained" , it is different than that.  It is easy to judge if you do not have personal experience with this.  Become educated before making judgement.  I do agree that the parents need to do more to help those boys overcome this.  I only know of younger children (6 and under) who develop this and are afraid to sit on the toilet for some reason that needs to be figured out.  These parents have let this go on way too long and I think maybe a bit of laziness on their part has allowed this to go on.