Dressing All By Myself!

Some children will learn to dress themselves effortlessly with very little help. Many children will rely on some level of instruction or assistance. Dressing requires many skills  we don’t typically think of when we ask our child to put his/her clothes on. A child may have difficulty in one or more of the areas below which can make dressing all by myself very difficult: • comprehension (the ability to understand and process language for learning) • bilateral coordination (the ability to use both hands together using same or different movements to accomplish a task) • visual-spatial organization (the ability to manipulate an object in relation to one’s own body or in relation to another object) • sequencing (the ability to understand the order of steps involved in order to be successful)  Sometimes we can make things easier by doing one of the following:

Providing a visual-model of what you are asking your child to do. Take a picture of each clothing item – underpants, undershirt, shirt, pants, socks, shoes, etc. that your child needs to put on. Place those pictures on an oak tag strip in the order that the child needs to perform them either horizontally – left to right or vertically – top to bottom.

Another approach is called backward chaining. This is where you assist in completing all steps of the dressing process for your child with the exception of the last step. Have your child complete the last step. They can then feel a sense of success.  Gradually over time complete all steps but the last two and have your child complete the last two steps and so on.

Providing an accurate model of how your child should use his/her hands to perform dressing tasks. Sit or kneel behind your child so that he/she can see the position of your hands are in order to know what position his/her hands need to be in to be successful. Some children can’t figure out what position their hands need to be when the task is modeled in front of them. This is especially true when teaching a child how to engage and zip a zipper.

Minimizing and simplifying the language involved in the steps of dressing. Think of how to deliver your instructions using simple and concise language.  Sometimes less is more!

Teach your child how to put their clothing on using any or all of the interventions above. This is typically the easier process for children in the 3-4 year old range. Once this process is mastered you can teach your child how to position his/her clothing in order to put his/her clothing on, which usually becomes achieved in that 4-5 year old range. GOOD LUCK and DON’T STRESS!