Why do people with autism poop more while using the bathroom?

Autism spectrum disorder affects around one percent or about 75 million people around the world according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This means that 1 in 100 people are diagnosed with the disease every year according to the same study conducted by the CDC.
Autism is a disorder that is near and dear to me and my family as my myself and my sister were diagnosed with the disease at a very young age, around three and four to be exact.
One of the conditions that have been important to my family’s knowledge of autism was that when I was two or three, I had a saga where I would poop in the bathtub, or smear poop all over my grandmother’s standing television screen.

This was as I span, drooled, and began to flap my hands while covering my ears at loud noises outside.
One sound in particular left me in my bedroom for over a year isolated in the dark when I was five or six years old. Trust me, I had severe symptoms of autism when I was a little kid, but thanks to therapy and further advancements in treatment along with ten years of intense speech and occupational therapy, I would not be able to even write this article or make videos on YouTube, or even live a normal life as a now 21-year-old man who struggles with autism and bipolar disorder.
Remember when I talked in the beginning about poop smearing on my grandmother’s TV and going ‘number two’ in the bathtub?
Well, when I pooped in the bathroom, I would poop out a monthly log’s worth of feces in the toilet. Then when my sister exhibited symptoms of autism, she would go ‘number two’ more than I did. She would go a good amount then amplify it by ten times the amount of poop I would normally go.

One of the biggest questions that I have had as a person with autism was, “Why did I go so much,” and “What can be the root cause of the issue?”
The issue is indigestion and constipation, but it can also be more than just a kid who does not consume food correctly or even holds on to their feces for long periods of time.
According to the Mayo Clinic, when autistic children in particular go to the bathroom, they can suffer from what the article said as kids with autism spectrum disorder having, “more medical issues, including gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea, compared with their peers.” The article said, “At the same time, many children with ASD eat only a few foods [selective eating], prefer highly processed foods, and eat fewer fruits, vegetables and whole grains.”
Another study by Autism Parenting Magazine even calls poop smearing and a kid pooping out excessive feces in the toilet as a normal autistic symptom. Parents should help kids further the advancements of potty training to lessen the issue of over-constipation.
Poop can even be a source of comfort to a child. Poop may help kids with sensory and discovering themselves. It can also be a source of an underlying medical issue if the child has not been diagnosed with the disease. These changes can affect a child’s behavior making them aggressive or increasingly agitated.
According to the Autism Parenting Magazine, they recommend to parents with children who have autism to be aware of when their child has excessive pooping spells because it can lead to excessive inappropriate behaviors to be done with the feces.
The article, written by medical expert Kelly Beins said, “Parents may encounter various types of inappropriate or risky poop behaviors, including pica [eating the feces], anal poking, sexualized behavior with feces, and fecal smearing [playing with or spreading around of feces]. This has been reported as one of the most common bowel related problem behaviors in autism, yet very little research exists around how often it happens, what causes it, and what to do.”

With any further questions or expert opinions on what is going on with their child, the magazine suggests parents to chat with their child's primary care physician or a doctor in the field of study for further questions about the issue. Which could even explain the phenomenon of ‘poop smearing.’
I can tell parents that the problem does get better over time. If your son or daughter can learn to identify the problems while they are still young and their brains are still developing that is a step of progress later on.
Today, I watch when I need to poop so I do not continue standing around in my room waiting all day to use the bathroom.
Children can develop this method with major occupational therapy and further family and medical support.