OT Dressing tips, tricks and fun ways to practice!

ReCap on dressing

This month our OT focus was dressing— and boy did we have a lot of fun with it! A child’s ability to dress gives us a lot of information about their foundational skills. Dressing requires motor planning, balance, body awareness postural control, and fine motor skills. Independence with self-care helps kids feel independent and confident in their abilities.

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Tips for working on dressing at home

  1. Start with undressing

  2. Dress and undress in front of a mirror

  3. Play dress-up

  4. Save practicing for bedtime (and have enough time so that you are not in a rush)

  5. Practice putting on and taking off slippers

  6. Have your child wash themselves in the bath- to help with body awareness

  7. Caterpillar Laces- to help with shoe tying.

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Tips for working on dressing in the clinic

  1. Using loops of lycra, Thera-band, or pop tubes- to put on like pants or overhead like a shirt

  2. Using rubber bands or scrunchies to practice socks.

  3. Button and Snap chains (like these)

  4. Large ropes, caterpillar laces, different color laces to practice and learn shoe tying.

  5. Practicing getting in and out of a body sock.