GET Help: Dressing
Entering the toddler phase is an exciting time! It also comes with its own unique challenges. A major one is dressing. We all know what it’s like to try pulling arms through a shirt on a screaming and kicking toddler... Lucky for you, we have compiled some great tips from various sources!
Skills required for independent dressing:
To start out, glance over the following list to see all the skills that are required for independent dressing. While dressing might seem easy as pie on the outside, there are many factors that go into being a successfully independent dresser.
Separation of the two sides of the hand
Postural control
Shoulder stability with movement
Control of forearm
Wrist position
Palmers arch
Prehension (e.g., grips & grasp)
In-hand manipulation
Hand preference & bilateral control
Eye-hand coordination
Extrinsic & Intrinsic muscle strength
Precision of release
Motor planning
Sometimes poor fine motor skills will lead to difficulties with independent dressing. Read these tips by OT Toolbox!
Encourage self-care skills in environments where dressing tasks are happening naturally.
Dressing typically occurs twice a day, but there are many opportunities for working on the fine motor skills needed in dressing tasks, for example
Donning shoes and socks can happen before going outdoors and when coming into the home.
Toileting is a way to practice lower body clothing management throughout the day.
Children build independence with dressing through pretend play by using dress-up clothes.
Repetition is a strategy for increasing opportunities for practice.
Encourage role play to build fine motor skills in dressing: Children can dress a baby doll.
Alternate opportunities to practice fine motor skills such as toys to help kids practice dressing skills.
Start easy by undressing and/or pushing arms through sleeves. For most kids, getting undressed is much easier than getting dressed. Use this to your advantage! Start with practicing undressing at the end of the day and at bath time so they can get comfy with how clothes work!
Give elastic pants, and save fasteners for playtime. This is a good place to start if they have the motor skills to handle buttons and zipper. Keep the pants loose to they can be easily pulled up and down! Pretend play with the zippers or buttons and once they have the motor skills to do it regularly, shift back to clothing with zippers and buttons!
Teach your child to sit when putting on anything that goes on the bottom. This is easier than doing it standing up! Even better, sitting down is a great start for understanding the concept of front and back. Sometimes clothing doesn’t have tags which can make it difficult to distinguish front from back. Read this article to learn more!
Make up rhymes and songs to help kids remember the correct positioning. For example, “velcro goes to the pinkie toes,” or “Gotta loop-de-loop and pull, and your shoes are looking cool!”
Work through jacket and coat strategies. Some children might be really good at using the coat flip strategy and some are not! If you’re wondering what that means, you lay out coat upside-down with hood pointed to them and opened to the inside. They then slide their arms in the holes and flip it over their head! If this doesn’t work for you, that’s okay! Hooded sweatshirts, jackets, or coats can be helpful so all the child needs to remember is that the hood goes on head first!
