Belle’s OT Corner

Self Care Season: Early Dressing Skills

Belle Season 5 Episode 1

Dressing seems straightforward to us as adults, but for children, it's a complex developmental challenge requiring numerous hidden skills. This episode dives into the foundations of early dressing independence, revealing why undressing naturally comes before dressing and how seemingly simple tasks like putting on a t-shirt involve intricate motor planning, body awareness, and cognitive sequencing.

We dive into the underlying skills needed to engage in dressing tasks and some of the many reason it can be frustrating for both children and parents! 
Throughout this conversation, I share practical strategies you can implement immediately, including how to choose the right time to practice, why loose-fitting clothes make learning easier, the power of backwards and forwards chaining techniques,  the role of problem solving within dressing! 

The most powerful takeaway? Independence doesn't mean doing everything alone. It means supporting children to do as much as they can with the least amount of help, recognising their unique capabilities, and celebrating each step toward self-care mastery. Whether you're a parent frustrated with morning routines or a teacher supporting classroom independence, these foundational principles will transform how you approach dressing skills with the children in your life.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everyone and welcome back to Bell's OT Corner. It has been a little bit of a minute and by that I mean quite a little while since I've been able to jump on and since I've been able to jump on and put out the next episode. It's been a bit of a crazy time for me. I've been moving house and then we had tech issues and then, anyway, lots of little hiccups, lots of little things happening. But we are settled, we are sorted and we are back, which is fantastic and I'm so excited to share that.

Speaker 1:

Our next little season, because obviously a while ago now I was about to say we just finished. But no, a while ago we finished up our first kind of play season. We talked all things play. This season I thought we could jump into some self-care things. We're going to have a self-care skills season. A couple of S's there, nice bit of alliteration.

Speaker 1:

So I'm just going to give you like a bit of an overview of what I'm kind of thinking for this season. You guys know by now these things can change, but a rough idea of what I'm thinking for the season, and then we'll jump into episode one. So for this season I'm thinking we'll do a couple of episodes on dressing and then looking at a couple episodes on like feeding and cutlery use, a little bit on bath and shower time, a little bit on grooming and maybe a little bit on toileting. But toileting is a very large topic and so I might end up going with a season in and of itself. But we'll see how we go and, as always, if you guys have any questions as we're going along, things you want me to go into more about, just send me an email at bellesotcorner at gmailcom, or shoot me a message on Instagram, whatever works, and I'm more than happy to try and include those bits as I can as well.

Speaker 1:

But for today, we are going to start with some bits and pieces on our dressing skills and, particularly for this very first episode, we're going to look at, like, our early dressing skills and, as always when we start to talk about these things, we're going to break down the what's involved in that skill. What are some of the hidden skills that we need to be able to do this skill? What are some of the hidden skills that we need to be able to do this skill? What are some strategies that you guys can use as parents and teachers to be able to support the skill and then also looking at you know what is kind of the progression stepping stones, what's the process look like when we're supporting the little ones in our life to be as independent as possible, because some of the dressing skills are a lot more complex than we initially think. It's one of those fun ones and as adults we tend to not have to think about it much anymore, unless you're like a brand new dress or a really tricky top and you can't quite figure out what goes where to make it a piece of clothing. But but most of the time we don't have to think about our dressing as much, whereas when we're learning the skill it takes a lot more cognitive effort to start to figure it out. So that's going to be today's episode. We'll jump into all things early. Dressing skills so let's get into it. Dressing skills so let's get into it.

Speaker 1:

So when we think about independence in general, but specifically when we think about independence within dressing, our overall goal is to support someone to be as independent as it is possible for them, to support them to have in complete autonomy over their choices, over their clothes that they wear, over, what pit of clothing they put on first, in what order and be able to do as much of the task that is possible for them to do. Now, there are lots of things that can play into how much someone is able to complete themselves from different physical abilities, from different cognitive strengths, but ultimately, what we want to do is to help them to do as much of it as possible with the least amount of help possible. So this is recognizing that people have, you know, different strengths and different needs and different disabilities and different physical constraints sometimes, and so one thing that's so important to remember when we are considering dressing is dressing does not look the same for every single person. Things to do when I work with families and when I work with teachers and when I work with different kids and different young people, is to really challenge them to go right. Do that in a different way.

Speaker 1:

How many different ways can you think of to put on a top? How many different ways can you think of to put on your socks and have a play around with it? You know it's a really fun one to do. At home as well. You can get everyone in the family involved and be like right now. Think of a different way to do that. How else could you do it? Make it a little bit silly, because there is no ultimate right or wrong way to do something, it's just a did it work or did it not quite work? Did it get the outcome that we wanted, or do we need to change something in how we did it?

Speaker 1:

So always, as we're kind of going through these episodes in our self-care season, we're really thinking about how can we support the individual to do as much of the task as possible with the least amount of prompts or supports that they need, bearing in mind that if they do need prompts and support, that's okay too, and over time we look to reduce them as much as we can. So if we think about dressing, so often I have teachers and I have parents that come to me and they say but they're not getting dressed. And every time, as soon as that question comes out, my question is are they getting undressed? Because undressing is a much easier skill than dressing. So when we're looking at kind of general skill progression, we always want to look at undressing first.

Speaker 1:

The first one that we start to tend to see is removing socks or removing like little slip-on shoes, like you know I don't know if you've seen some toddlers around or some babies around, and all of a sudden you go there you only have one sock on and I guarantee you they left the house with two. But somewhere along the way they figured out how to pull on it and if you pull on it hard enough it typically comes off because they're not too tight, and so they're kind of taking off socks like sliding out of jackets or pulling my arms out of tops, looking at sliding off pants or trousers. I'm going to mix those two up all the time, guys, whilst I am working in the UK at the moment I am Australian and we do call them pants, so you'll hear me interchange between the two of them, particularly when it comes to dressing bits and pieces. But the act of undressing is much easier than dressing, and so when we're having difficulties with dressing, we want to look at where is the bit that we can do or where is the bit that we're finding tricky, and start just before that. And so if we're not doing much dressing yet, and then when we think about it and we're actually not doing much undressing yet, where we're going to start and focus is the undressing first, and then we start to kind of step it up into some of the more complex dressing bits and pieces.

Speaker 1:

But before we get into that, I just wanted to talk quickly about some of the skills that we need for dressing. So kind of you know, I love a bit of a what's going on in the background, and so we think about dressing and we think about the what's going on in the background quickly you might be able to start to see some areas that you are finding tricky or that your kid is finding challenging, because how we help is going to be dependent upon what might be tricky, and so often the bit that's tricky. And once you get the right bit of help for the bit that's tricky, all of a sudden everything gets a little bit easier. Please do excuse me. So when we think about the skills that are needed for dressing in particular, we need regulation, because it's frustrating and it's hard, and when things are frustrating and hard, we can sit within a higher state of stress, we can have more frustrations and we can find it harder to persist with something, particularly if I've tried it once and then I tried it again and it's still not working, and then we can see all these big emotion stuff to come out. And so just being mindful that there is lots of cognitive thinking and lots of organization that is going on for these kids when they aren't trying to do dressing, and so it's naturally really frustrating. And not only is it really frustrating for the kid, it's also really frustrating very often for the adult. And so we need our own regulation strategies as well.

Speaker 1:

And if you want to kind of listen to some regulation stuff in some more detail, jump back into the season that I did on regulation in the early years, particularly some of the bits around co-regulation and what is regulation as a bigger piece. But just being mindful that it is typically going to be a frustrating time, and so what are we going to put in place to support us in this time? Do you need to do something as the teacher, as the parent, to be able to go? Do you know what? I'm just going to take two minutes. I'm going to take 10 seconds. I'm just going to collect myself before I go in, because I know this is going to be really hard and I know that I'm going to want to jump in and I know that I'm going to get frustrated, and that's totally okay. So I'm just going to take two seconds for myself first before I jump in with this? Or is it that we're going to help the kid through it and be like, yeah, this is really hard and I'm going to validate that this is really hard? Let's pause, let's have a cuddle, let's have a big breath, let's have a sip of water? What are those strategies that we know when using some of those co-regulation strategies of keeping yourself calm to help your kid or help your young person navigate through some of these challenges and some of these barriers that we do have, because it is a frustrating time. Learning new skills is hard and that's okay, and we can help them persist through them. So you can look like the what was it called? The regulation and persistence episode as well, if you want to jump back and have a listen to that one too. So we need regulation skills because we need to be able to persist at something that's tricky without becoming completely dysregulated.

Speaker 1:

Unsurprisingly, within dressing, we need a lot of motor skills, so we need to potentially be able to maintain our balance. Or if I can't maintain my balance, I need to do the task in a slightly different way. So if I have the balance to stand up and pull up my trousers, great. Or if I have the balance to balance on one leg and put my foot through my pants, great. If I don't, how can I do it slightly differently? Can I sit on the edge of the bed? Can I do a little bit of a wiggle to help me slide into my trousers? I had one young person that I worked with who standing balance was really tricky, and so they'd sit on a little step, pull them up to their thighs and then lean forward onto their knees to get them the rest of the way up and over, because that was an easier balance to maintain.

Speaker 1:

And so what little bits can we change to be able to support the balance that I have? We need some bilateral coordination. So again, if you're not sure, I'm just going to give like a quick overview, but if you want more information, jump back to the episode. In our motor skills season there'll be a couple bits of me guys like signposting you to the episodes that I do talk about things in more detail, just so that our episodes don't end up being way too long. I want these to be short, really accessible episodes for you guys, for when you have that, you know, 10 minutes or 5 minutes and you can pop me in your ears and have a listen.

Speaker 1:

So we need some bilateral coordination. So can I organize both sides of my body to do different tasks, or do the same task at the same time or slightly different times? For example, can I hold my top with one hand whilst I push my arm through the sleeve with the other hand? Can I get the different sides of my body doing different jobs? For that we need a level of body awareness and body schema, so knowing where I am in space, knowing where my body is and knowing what my body is going to be doing. Which means we need a level of motor planning, which is the sequencing of our motor movements to complete different actions, movements to complete different actions. You can see, guys, it starts to get tricky if our brains are having to think about all these steps at one time. We haven't even gotten into the steps of the actual dressing yet.

Speaker 1:

So then, we need our motor planning. We also need a level of postural control, so that's like our ability to use our core mostly to be able to maintain our posture. And again, if I don't have that, we then need to look to adapt the activity. And that's where you know, you can chat to your OT about some specific adaptations that you might be able to make to make it all a little bit easier. And then, as we get into some of the more complex I mean for all our dressing skills, but mostly as we get into some of our more complex skills it's then we need some more refined fine motor skills. So I'm thinking buttons, zippers, laces, fasteners, all of that fun stuff, and buttons that get you know easy push ones and then down to like actual buttons where you're pushing it through the hole, and then stud buttons. The list goes on. But then we need a level of fine motor skills. So we have quite a lot of motor skills that impact upon and that we need to be able to access to be able to engage in some of the dressing tasks. We also have some underlying sensory skills.

Speaker 1:

Now. This is everything from our sensory preferences and being able to identify and choose and communicate which textures I like and I don't like, for example. I really struggle with and I love. I wish I didn't find it as irritating, because I love the look of a woolen jumper. I do. I think they are beautiful, but I really don't like the way wool makes me feel, and particularly when it's against my skin. You guys can't see me right now, but even just talking about it's making me kind of do a bit of a wiggle in my seat, because that sensation to me is not one that I like. I can, really, if I have to, I can push myself through it and tolerate it, but it's not nice, I don't like it, and so I choose not to use it.

Speaker 1:

And so, particularly, making sure we're paying attention to some of the cues that the kids that like your kids or your children or kids in your class that they're giving you to start to go oh, maybe this particular fabric or maybe this particular texture isn't one that you like, and maybe we can look at differences in clothing as well. But we also need to be able to use our sensory system to help us navigate bits of dressing. So using our visual field to be able to go where's the top, where's the bottom, where's the holes, which way's up? Using our tactile to be able to go. Yep, I can feel that, because a lot of dressing we might do without being able to see. So I'm thinking about, you know, if we're putting a top over our head, being able to not see but being able to feel where the sleeve is and keep pushing my arm through the sleeve until I get to the end, so a bit of that like tactile discrimination that's happening. So there's a lot of being able to use and access our visual systems to be able to engage in the steps of dressing. So, as you can see, guys like we haven't even gotten into different strategies, different processes, anything of that.

Speaker 1:

Yet there is so much that goes on behind the scenes with dressing, which means there's lots of different reasons why someone might be struggling with dressing. It could be that they're having difficulty organizing their body. It could be that they're having difficulty oh, I forgot one the cognitive piece. So being able to know the sequence, know what's first, know what's next, know what to do when something goes wrong, problem solve through when something goes wrong Also a lot going on within that as well, and so it could be that someone's having difficulties with the motor components associated with dressing. It could be that someone's having difficulties with the cognitive part, so the sequencing side of dressing. It could be that someone's really struggling, you know, with the part where they can't see and that gets really scary for them.

Speaker 1:

And so a big part of supporting your kids and supporting the learners in your class with dressing is to become curious. What do you see? What do you notice? Where does it get tricky? Where does the frustration start to come out? What could that be and how can we help them through it? Which and we will, I promise. As always, guys, we do actually get to strategies, I promise, and I allude to it through the whole episode, but we do get there and we'll talk about the strategies that you can then put in place. But the most empowering thing that you can do is be curious go, why did that get really tricky? Why is that hard? What could be going on there seeking support from you? Know, a teacher? Are they notice? Are you noticing this at school as well? Or teachers talking to parents? Are you noticing that at home? And maybe we do need to get an OT and to have a look and give us some specific recommendations as well. As always, this is just like food for thought. This is to help you understand things a bit more, but always seek out support from your OT or your teacher to be able to give those more specific recommendations to your children as well.

Speaker 1:

But if you take away one thing from today's episode, become curious, you know, go oh, I wonder, oh, what could that be? Because as you start to get curious, you automatically help your kids start to get curious too. And you go oh, that looked a bit tricky. I wonder, did you feel a bit unbalanced? No, you didn't feel a bit unbalanced. Okay. Well, I wonder, did your brain get stuck? Did it forget what it had to do next? Or did it get stuck on something? Oh, it did, okay, cool. And then you can look at helping in other ways as well and having them. A part of that, like I wonder what's going on? Because it's your body. I don't know. I can guess I can see some things happening, but it's your body and your brain. We can figure this out together.

Speaker 1:

So, when we think about dressing and what we can do to support dressing, a couple of tips. And for today's episode, before we get into a couple of tips, I promise I'm not teasing too much guys, but for today's episode I'm thinking about like dressing things like well, undressing first and then dressing things like tops, things like um trousers or pants, things like jackets that are a bit easier and socks. So not, we're not talking about like zips, buttons, orientation. Today. You know the more complex jackets around they're a bit tighter or the more complex t-shirts and things we're going to chat about. That next episode we're going to do like a later um dressing skills, but just today we're thinking you really simple, like pull over tops that are nice and loose, pants, jackets that are nice and loose, and socks are kind of what we're thinking about today. Just so that you have a bit of a bit of a picture in your mind as I talk through different strategies and activities and things.

Speaker 1:

Biggest strategy number one pick a time to practice on dressing where you have capacity to give it the time that it needs, if you know that dressing is going to be a real struggle. Maybe it's not what we do in the mornings if you're already pressed for time, but maybe that you have a bigger pocket of time. You know, at bath time or after bath time, before we get into PJs, that's a really great time to practice if that's where you have time. Or maybe for you that time's really busy but actually your children wake up really early in the morning and so you're up with them and you're trying to having to kill time anyway in the mornings. Before you know you can actually head off to school and so that for you, could be the really powerful time to start to practice. You don't need to practice it every single time. You might let them have a go and say you know what, have fun, fun, I'm going to go and do X, y and Z job and if you need some help when I get back I can help you. Then, again, we're allowing those bits of time. We're setting things up for success instead of setting them up for frustrations.

Speaker 1:

As I said before, if we think about our own regulation within this, we know that this can be a really challenging and really frustrating time for a lot of parents, particularly if you've done the come on, let's get dressed. Come on, we've got to get dressed. Come on, I told you, can you please just go and get dressed? We just need to get out of the house, just put your clothes on. Really frustrating, and so as much as possible, the more you can set it up for success. And maybe it's a. You know your kid loves a challenge, and so you're going to go. Right, we're going to have a challenge today. We're going to see if you can get your top on before mom or before dad gets dressed and back, and so you can then go and get dressed and then come back and all they have to do is their top in that time. But then they have that little bit of autonomy, that little bit of independence, and they're going to, you know, see if they can do it.

Speaker 1:

There's lots of different tips and tricks for kind of the building play into dressing, which I'll chat about in two seconds. But the biggest one is set yourself up for success. Look at the times when you might have that pocket of time to be able to spend the time with them. You can also practice dressing in play. So doing dress-ups if you're doing any sort of role play, pretend play, and your dress-ups could be as simple as dressing up in mum's and dad's big tops that kind of turn into dresses, or you know, mum's skirt that somehow all of a sudden becomes a full dress, those sorts of dress-up opportunities. Like it doesn't have to be go out and buy dress-ups, but looking at where you can build in within a silly play.

Speaker 1:

I'm gonna put this on and, oh look, I'm now a pirate. Or I'm gonna put this on and, oh look, I'm a princess. Or, you know, I'm a knight or I'm a I don't know why I'm down a fantasy um theme at the moment, but there we go, using bits of dress-up and that incidental practice really, really great. You can also do it if you like. If your children really like cooking or messy play or painting or anything like that. We can practice dressing when we put aprons on and, again, even if your apron is one of your old tops that we're putting on over everything, so you don't have to do 15,000 different loads of washing. There's a really lovely incidental time to practice dressing as well. You can also do it in like dressing up of toys or even something as simple as helping sorting clothes or putting clothes onto hangers or taking clothes off hangers. All of that sort of stuff is great practice. To start to go oh look, I can open this top and something go in this top and it has a top and a bottom and all of that great stuff.

Speaker 1:

Also, be mindful when you're doing different bits of practice around the position that your children are in or the kids in your class are in, when you're doing bits of dressing and a lot of people say and you'll hear a lot that to do the best dressing, you want to be seated and nice and supported. Now, yes, that can work, but it's not going to work for everyone. Really, what we want is for someone to be in a position that is comfortable for them, that they are able to maintain, and so it could be for some that actually leaning down against something, to then push themselves up to do a bit of dressing, to then lean back against something, is going to be the most supportive position for them. For other people, it might be that they actually do best standing up, or they might actually do best sitting down on the floor, or they might do best, you know, sitting down on a chair where they've got a bit of back support, as long as they're in a position they're able to be supported and they're able to keep trying. That's all we care about, really, because we want it to be a functional position for them to be able to feel confident to engage in dressing.

Speaker 1:

I had one kid that I worked with who the best position for him and honestly I don't know how he did it Every time I was impressed Lying down and was super flexy, and he'd bend his foot up and he'd put his socks on lying down and he'd pull his trousers up with a bit of a wiggle as he was lying down and he'd sort of he did sit up to put his top on. Yes, I was just, yeah, just remembering, but he did sit up to put his top on, but for a lot of it, for him, him what was most comfortable was lying down and that's great, it worked. So, just bearing in mind that you know, yes, sometimes the seated position is a really supportive position and it can be, but it may not be the best position for everyone. So, strategies, let's chat strategies for supporting some of these early dressing skills. Number one always, always, always, start with undressing, because it's just easier and you can tug a bit more and you can make it a little bit silly and you can make it a bit of a where have you gone? Fun little game. And I already said we want to build on naturally occurring times, but naturally occurring times when you have the time to give to it. I don't know what number I'm up to, but next one Really try, when you're supporting with dressing, try not to and it's so hard, but try not to jump in with oh, there's a problem.

Speaker 1:

Oh, this is what you have to do, do this, do this, do this. Oh no, that's the wrong arm, really try and see. And this is dependent upon kids, and so I am mindful that you know you know your children best. You are the experts in your children, same as teachers. You guys know the kids really well. You spend lots of days with it, lots of time with them, but where possible, let them find the problem themselves, and then you can be a little bit silly with it and you can do oh no, did your arm go in the head hole? Oh no, let's fix that. And you can fix it together. But they've gone. Oh, and you can go. What are we going to do now? Let's, should we? Should we leave it on? No, we should take it off. Yeah, let's take it off and you can play around with it a little bit.

Speaker 1:

But you're allowing them that time, because what we do when we jump in is we interrupt their thinking process and we can interrupt their organization. Now, for some kids it's really helpful to interrupt, but most of the time, actually letting them make their mistake and then solve the mistake together means that they can start to figure out, a what to do when things go wrong, but, b, we're not interrupting their thought process and we're letting them have that time to think it through, because it could be that they were going to figure it out. But we've just jumped in and now they're like hang on, you've told me something, I now need to focus and process what you're telling me. And then I have to try and get my attention back to what I'm doing with dressing. And now I'm all confused and I'm just frustrated and that's all too hard.

Speaker 1:

So, where possible, try to make sure we're not jumping in too early until we keep that problem solving piece where we want it to be and, if you know, and keep that cognitive focus where we want it to be, and if you know, and keep that cognitive focus where we want it to be. So, thinking back to some of the bits that we need within dressing, if for this particular kid, that motor organization is really hard, I'm not going to say as much. Or I'm going to say things like, yep, push this arm, push to keep it to that, bits that are going to help where those bits are tricky. And then if we make a problem, I'm going to wait until they notice it and then go oh no, now we can solve the problem because I'm not interrupting that cognitive power on organizing my body or if the cognitive powers are knowing what steps next. I'm going to wait and allow that processing time to be where I know it's tricky, before we jump in and interrupt. I hope that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

Also, another hot tip get some loose fitting clothes where possible. I mean kids grow so fast and so it's not always possible, but where possible, particularly if we're doing newer dressing skills, loose fitting clothes are much, much easier and even if that means using you know an older sibling's clothes, maybe, or using a cousin's clothes or your clothes and making it a bit silly, loose fitting clothes can be great. We want to allow time, and this links into what I was saying about choose when you're practicing dressing, but also links into what I was saying around like don't label the problems, allow the time for the thinking to happen, allow the time for things to go slow and allow the time to problem solve together. So what I mean by this is, if we've identified a problem together and we've gone, oh no, what are we going to do? I'm not going to jump in and go right, I'm out, I'm in here because I've then fixed the problem for them. But if we have the time and we've allowed the time and we can go.

Speaker 1:

Oh no, what are we going to do, right? Should we start again? Right, I'm out, let's start again. Where does this need to do, right? Should we start again? Right, I'm out, let's start again. Where does this need to go? Does it need to go through here? And I might put my arm through the head hole and they go no, no, no, okay. Does it need to go over here? And pointing to the arm hole, for example, yep, yep, okay. So my arm's going to go that way, or my arm's going to go towards the window Maybe there's a window there, I don't know. Use the environment for some natural cues, help them organize their body, and then they can do it.

Speaker 1:

You know, talk through what went wrong, what didn't work. Now, what, what are we going to do about that? And when you allow the time, you can do that piece of problem solving together really, really nicely. And that whole idea of we're in this together. It's not me telling you what to do, it's we're in this together and we're going to figure this out together. Also, we'll talk about, like, supporting orientation awareness next episode, and so, for the sake of this episode, if the focus is not on orientation, give it to them in the correct orientation.

Speaker 1:

We're not going to try and have too many challenges in this dressing task for them. You know, particularly as you start to get curious about what bits are tricky. We want to make the other bits easier so they're set up for success as much as possible. Which then kind of leads me to this thing called we have two things you may have heard them before and you may have not but two different approaches. Let's say, one is called backwards training and one is called forwards training.

Speaker 1:

So backwards training is the process by which I will do every step up until the last step, and then I'll let the child do the last step, so they have that success. And so, for example, if we are looking at putting on a pair of trousers or putting on a pair of pants, I'd help them. One foot, two foot, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle over the knees, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, right your turn. And they have to do the final pull up around the hips. Or it could be that we're taking off a top and we've taken one arm off and then it's come up and over our head and then it's stuck hanging on the second arm and I'm like right your turn. So they have to figure the pulling it out. Now, once they're doing that last step really well, then we go to the second, last step. So then I might, you know, get it off one arm and go okay, now what your turn figure it out. And so you kind of work backwards until they're doing all the steps in the task themselves.

Speaker 1:

The opposite of that is forwards chaining, where they do the first bit and then you help them do the rest, and then they might do the first two steps or the first three steps, and it's a way of breaking down, a not having to do the whole task themselves. So it makes it a little bit more achievable, but it also helps build a little bit of that confidence. And it also helps because they're still involved in the other steps. So, for example, if I was doing some backwards chaining with someone, I might be getting them. Either I'm talking them through each step, so I'm labeling what I'm doing, or I might be asking them what do I do now? All right, we do this foot, and then we do that foot and waiting for them to kind of tell me. And then do we, oh, that's right, we pull them up. And so I'm prompting what I'm doing and I'm talking through what I'm doing.

Speaker 1:

So they're a part of that dressing process and their brains involved in it, without having to do the physical part of organizing their body to do it. And the only bit they need to organize their body for is that last step. And then, as you drop it back, they're having to do more of it, but they don't have to think about as much of it because they've done that thinking with you when you were helping them. It's not to say, when we do it, I'm just going to do it and I'm going to say nothing and I'm going to write your turn. That's going to be really tricky. I'm going to go right, one leg and second foot. Where's that foot? Keep going, where is? Where is it? Push, push up, found it cool? And up and up and over the knees and up, and your turn. It needs to go up and they're kind of ready for what's coming next. And then my last little tip is it my last little tip? Yes, it is my last little tip for today.

Speaker 1:

My last little tip for today and it kind of links into all of those is when we're thinking about the prompting that we're using within dressing we want to be really mindful of A not using too much language, particularly if language is tricky for the child or young person to process and understand. But we also want to be really mindful of what language we're using. So one that can be really helpful with dressing is labeling motor movements and labeling actions. So I might be doing and you probably heard it as I was talking through one foot, two foot and it might come with like a nice little touch prop to touch that foot and be like this foot or two feet, and then feet are in and it might be a push, push, push so they know the action that they're having to do with that foot. And then, as I'm holding them, I'm going to go hold and up and up and up and up and up and again. I've said one word. I've said the one word a couple times, but it's one word and it's helping them understand what the movement is they need to do. And I might use silly sound effects and go oh, oh, oh to show that there's some effort involved in this and it makes a little bit silly and it makes a little bit fun, but it also helps them start to organize and understand the movements that they have to do so.

Speaker 1:

If we think back to some of the you know behind the scenes, what's involved in dressing, in that, motor coordination, motor planning, motor organization, bits and pieces and body awareness, those bits are the bits that we can help with, how we prompt. And then it might be that if we're looking at, you know, taking off socks, for example, it's going to be right, I'm going to pinch it or I'm going to catch it and I'm going to hold, and I'm going to hold and I'm going to pull, and then it's off and fantastic, and the bit that you emphasize can be different depending upon you know, when you've gotten curious, the bit that your kid is having difficulty with. That's the bit that we can prompt and emphasize, but always just being mindful of how much language we're using, how we can make it fun and a little bit silly, and how we can be really deliberate with the language that we're choosing to support them, to be as independent as possible. Alrighty guys, that let me just check, because I always have a little bit of a list of things that I want to talk to and then, in classic fashion, I never quite look at it. Yeah, perfect, that touches on everything that I wanted to chat about today for a kind of early dressing skills episode and then next week or probably in two weeks, next episode, which normally comes out fortnightly I've got to stop saying next week but next episode we'll then talk through some of the later dressing skills. So when it gets a little bit more complex some tips for laces, buttons, zips, you name it we'll talk about and then we'll keep flowing through on this self-care season.

Speaker 1:

But, as always, thank you for listening. I apologize that there has been a little bit of a longer break between episodes, but we are back and on track. Please do share the episode or the podcast around with anyone that you think it might be helpful for and send me a message, a rate and review, please. Please rate and review and send me a message. If there's anything that you questions, queries, thoughts, anything you'd like me to include in the season, just let me know. But I will see you guys in a couple of weeks. Talk soon. Bye.