We haven't had to deal with smearing poop; but refusing to poop on the toilet has been a real challenge. We have tried about anything suggested to us. We have read, taken classes you name it. So maybe a combination of everything has clicked. But recently I got online and got a social story of pictures about pooping. A mother of an autism child bought a doll and made the story.. We read it and read it. The OT says maybe it is time for a psychologist because he may feel he is losing a part of him.. so I explained that good food goes in and animated it going down down down and the bad food comes out. Over and over.. At the same time we have offered to buy special gifts. He went with me and picked out a gift and we sat it on the couch for him to SEE and HOLD..... He wanted it so bad. It was his choosing... I kept asking and begging him to go to the toilet and he agreed (not enthusiastically) and he achieved it... YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

My DD resisted going #2 in the potty until her biomed dr. started her on a round of Nystatin to treat yeast. Then within a week she was going #2 on the potty at least once per day and having very few accidents. So it might be worth trying anti-yeast treatments to see if it helps any.

Wow, does that sound familiar! My son did the exact same thing. I remember one especially frustrating event...I had just finished setting up the beautiful nursery for my daughter that I was expecting at the time...I left the room for maybe 10-12 minutes. When I walked back upstairs, I could smell it down the hallway. I walked in and he had it everywhere. He had small spots before and we caught him eating it a few times but nothing like this! I don't even know where he got that much! Needless to say, I was in no mood to be understanding or calm like I had been in previous times. So my husband quietly cleaned him up and quickly took him on a drive while I cleaned. I thought he would never get better only worse and I was not capable of being an effective parent. I felt like if this, what next? Then I calmed down and googled several sites. We had to watch him constantly while he was at home and instruct the daycare sitters to do the same. You have to catch them in the act and stop them immediatly and strictly. Only you would know what level of severity is needed to get her attention but we had to take it very seriously with Mason. It took about two weeks of this constant attention but he did stop the behavior. At least that worked for us. Mason is also nonverbal and potty training so-far is not a possibility. My only advise is sharing my experience and just don't give up. I know how worried you are to see this behavior. I was too. It will end...I promise. Just hang in there and count on your husband and anybody else you can trust to help. Make it your top priority. Mason has not done it at all in over a year now.

The "autism enigma" link that I provided has an interview with Dr MacFabe who is one of the main researcher looking into link between autism and gut microbes (eg clostridia). He does talk about fecal smearing (in "spreading" the fecal context). Fortunately we don't have clostridia overgrowth or this issue, but if we did, I would seeing a doctor right away and keep pushing him to refer or test.

Although yeast is common in ASD, also very common is clostridia. Fecal smearing is often associated with clostridia.

There is an excellent documentary called "the autism enigma" that was featured in Canada (CBC) that looks at the role of microbes in ASD. Here is a trailer though may be able to find the whole documentary elsewhere.

http://cogentbenger.com/autism/

In any event, I would look into getting stool tested at a minimum.