I work with children with special needs. There are lots of things you can do in everyday interactions with your child. When he speaks to you, articulate back what you think he said clearly as a role model for him. Wherever possible, try and help him be as independent as possible. If I had a pound for everytime things are done for children, when it's completely within their means to do a task independently (e.g. getting dressed etc.) After a long time of being dependent on an adult, children give up and wait for things to be done for them and they can become very passive and almost 'lazy'.
When it comes to toilet training, make it as stress free as possible and offer rewards (whatever he really likes). Make sure that he knows what he has to do for the reward and try and make the completion of it as realistic for him as possible (i.e. don't make it near impossible for him to try- obvious, I know but the amount of times I've seen children given something that I think is difficult for me).
Also, if possible, get a professional involved - start with a General Practitioner if you're not sure, but you can also go to an educational psychologist who should assess and then give you recommendations of what your child needs to make further progress. Sometimes these can be simple adaptations to what you're already doing (we do lots of adaptations in the school where I work to remove barriers to learning).
Other than that, good luck - raising a child is one of the hardest jobs you can do.
"After a long time of being dependent on an adult, children give up and wait for things to be done for them and they can become very passive and almost 'lazy'."
The obvious HN analogy is anyone who's ever observed users vs IT. "You mean you spent 15 minutes opening a ticket with IT to get them to put paper in the printer? Seriously?"
When it comes to toilet training, make it as stress free as possible and offer rewards (whatever he really likes). Make sure that he knows what he has to do for the reward and try and make the completion of it as realistic for him as possible (i.e. don't make it near impossible for him to try- obvious, I know but the amount of times I've seen children given something that I think is difficult for me).
Also, if possible, get a professional involved - start with a General Practitioner if you're not sure, but you can also go to an educational psychologist who should assess and then give you recommendations of what your child needs to make further progress. Sometimes these can be simple adaptations to what you're already doing (we do lots of adaptations in the school where I work to remove barriers to learning).
Other than that, good luck - raising a child is one of the hardest jobs you can do.