Self Care Season: Later Dressing Skills

Dressing skills are about so much more than just putting on clothes—they're a daily opportunity to build problem-solving abilities that last a lifetime. In this  second episode of our self-care season, we dive deep into strategies for later dressing skills (zips, buttons, shoes) and also really discuss the thinking that goes on behind the scenes for dressing. 

What exactly makes buttons and zips so tricky for little fingers? We break down these complex motor skills into manageable steps, sharing practical strategies to build confidence and independence. 

Beyond the physical skills, we explore the hidden cognitive load of dressing—the thinking processes that make these seemingly simple tasks surprisingly complex. Learn why honouring children's choices in dressing sequence, even when you know they won't work, creates powerful "naturally occurring problems" that build problem-solving confidence. We share playful approaches to make dressing fun rather than frustrating, including dress-up games and modelling how to work through mistakes.

The episode concludes with an enlightening look at adaptive clothing options that work within a child's abilities to maximise independence. From magnetic closures that look like buttons to side-opening designs to many more. 

Whether you're a parent, teacher, or therapist, these practical, playful strategies will transform dressing time from a daily struggle into a valuable learning opportunity. Share your own dressing tips or questions with us on Instagram @bellsotcorner or email bellsotcorner@gmail.com!

DISCLAIMER:
Whilst I will always make evert effort to share correct information as at the date of the podcast, research is constantly happening and as a profession we learn more everyday. One therapist may have a different way of doing things to another, and every child's needs are unique. By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others Consult your child's paediatrician or therapist for any recommendations for your child.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Hello everyone and welcome back to Belzo Tea Corner. So today we're going to be continuing with our self-care season and we're going to jump into episode two, all about our dressing skills. So what we're going to do today is we'll talk a little bit about some of the later dressing skills that might be a little bit more fiddly, so things like zips and buttons and shoes and making sure we get the shoes on the right feet and then we'll talk about some of the hidden parts of dressing skills and some of the areas where typically kids can have some difficulty because of the cognitive load associated with our dressing skills. So, thinking about how do we help them with orientation, how do we help them with sequencing, what are some of the strategies around what we can do as the adults to support either your child or a learner in your class to build their confidence and build their independence in dressing as well. And then, just before we finish up, we'll hopefully touch base on some adaptations for clothing and things to consider when we're looking at adapting clothing for individuals as well. Or and we'll touch on this later but just to let you guys know about some of the adaptive clothing that is available, because there has been so much amazing progress in fantastic adaptive clothing in the last recent years, so, yeah, let's jump in. So when we think about zips, buttons and shoes from the episode last week, we started to talk a bit about backwards training and what that is and how to do that bit about backwards training and what that is and how to do that and it's the exact same skill that we would use to help them learn zips, help them learn shoelaces, help them learn velcro, help them learn buttons, or it's at least one strategy that you can use to be able to help them build that confidence In terms of zips.

Speaker 1: 1:59

Some of the other things that are really, really helpful is giving a little bit of an extra. You know, I've done a key ring for some, I've done a bit of a ribbon, and what you do is you hook it through the zip itself to give that a bit of a bigger lever so that it's easier to grab and pull. And as always as I mentioned last week, guys we are starting with undressing first, so pulling off that zipper and then working towards dressing the zipper. Now the hardest part of zippers is actually getting it nested into the little mechanism at the bottom of the zipper, and part of that is because you need to hold it in a way that your fingers aren't covering any part of the zipper and because it can be quite fiddly to place it into that piece.

Speaker 1: 2:48

So really nice ways to help build some of the independence here is slow it down, talk through what you're doing, maybe ask some questions. Do I put this in your belly button? No, it doesn't go in your belly button. Do I put it? Hmm, where does it go? Oh, it goes in there.

Speaker 1: 3:05

And so even if all your child is doing is helping tell you what to do, they're still engaging in the steps of dressing, and then it might be okay, can you hold this bit for me and I'll hold that bit. Or it might be that you have a really independent child, that they really, really, really want to do it themselves, and so maybe what you do is you say, okay, well, I find this a bit tricky, so I'm going to do mine really slowly and you've got your top on that has a zipper to it, or your jacket that's got a zipper to it, and you look at how you're doing it and see if you can model and help them slow down through modeling together and doing it together instead of just jumping in and going oh you're getting really frustrated, I'm just gonna do it, and don get me wrong. There is a time to jump in and support when people are getting frustrated, but it's also a really nice time to help build some of those problem solving skills which, trust me, we'll talk about later in this episode and help them have that sense of accomplishment as well. So they're like super quick tips on zips, buttons, buttons, buttons, buttons. Again guess what guys? Undressing first, always, always undressing first, and big buttons before little buttons, because big buttons are easier from a fine motor perspective. As soon as you get into the little buttons, you need more dexterity. You need to be able to move a lot of your other fingers out of the way, similar to a zip. So we always want to be looking at bigger buttons. So if you're, you know, a learner in your class or your child's really struggling with buttons, maybe see if there are some bigger buttons that you can practice on, and maybe having clothes with bigger buttons for a little while, so we feel really successful in that and they're able to dress independently. As they continue to practice, that, their fine motor skills will improve and then we can move to tops with smaller buttons as well, but similar to the zips.

Speaker 1: 4:53

We're going to work through the problem together so they can tell you what to do. And a really powerful thing here is modeling getting it wrong. Do the wrong thing and see what happens and go that wasn't what was supposed to happen. Okay, what could I do? And really with buttons, it's one that for so many adults that I've worked with, they go oh, but you just do it. And yeah, we just do it.

Speaker 1: 5:17

But it's thinking about okay, well, what are the actual steps? We need to pinch on the side of the button. To pinch on the side of the button, we need to hold the top so that the slit is not covered. Then we're going to push the button through the slit and then we're going to catch it from the other side and either pull the button or pull the shirt over the rest of the button. So it gets a little bit fiddly and the the more that we can break that down. You can even create a little mnemonic around it. So you say, okay, I'm going to pinch and I'm going to push, and I'm going to pull, pull, pull. And so then all of a sudden, the steps become a lot more simpler.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Then you look at matching the buttons. So maybe it is that to start with the independence in dressing. If we think about backwards training, the first bit that you do is actually I'm going to do the button in its entirety, but you can tell me which button goes where, so you help me match them. Are we going to start at the bottom or are we going to start at the top? I'd recommend starting at the top, but if you're having difficulty starting at the top, the bottom can be a really nice spot to start because you can match the bottom of the shirt and, particularly for starting to do them, you can see the buttons a little bit easier. So again, maybe for backwards training, it's you do the top three buttons that are a little bit harder to see, where you have to trust a little bit more of your tactile system and your proprioceptive system, because you can't easily see the button. So your sensory systems are giving you that feedback of where your hands are and where the button is. But then, as you work down and you come towards the bottom of the shirt, you can look down and you can see those buttons quite easily. So you get that extra visual feedback, and those are the ones that I'd be getting someone to start with. Okay, so I've done three, now it's your turn, you do three.

Speaker 1: 7:05

And so, thinking of those sorts of strategies, of which bits can I do, which bits are the easier components here to then be able to build a bit of that independence? So, yeah, really emphasizing that pinch, push, pull or whatever words that work like it doesn't have to be those words, I just tend to find they work quite nicely. I had a learner that I worked with who? It was a catch shove, and I can't remember what the last one was, because he caught the button, shoved it through the hole and then squashed it. It was catch shove and squash because he squashed the shirt over the button and again, that worked. And so you know, maybe your kid or a learner in your class, they could come up with the word themselves. What should we call that? Okay, great, we can call that catching and shoving, I don't mind, but just helping them think about what are those motor movements that are needed for some of the more fiddly tasks as well.

Speaker 1: 7:57

Lovely, and also doing it together, and I think you guys will pick that up on a lot of the examples. It's very much. Do it together, talk it through together. We're in this together. It's not just talking about something else and I'm doing up your buttons and all of a sudden you're dressed. But really do you have any idea of what just happened to get dressed? We want the focus to be on dressing and focus to be on the buttons. How are we doing the buttons? Lovely. So that is our zips, that's our buttons, and now we're just going to quickly touch on shoes before we jump into kind of the cognitive side of things within dressing Shoes, shoes there are a thousand and one different ways you can tie your shoes.

Speaker 1: 8:42

I know there are lots of times that you don't even need to tie your shoes anymore with some of the elastic pull zips and pull zips, pull laces, and they are fantastic. There's Velcro shoes. There's all the slide in shoes now Heaps and heaps of different ways, and really what we're looking at with shoelaces so I'll just do a little bit on shoelaces is do a bit of homework together. Look up on YouTube different ways to do your shoelaces, try them out, talk about what was easy, what was tricky. You know I have done. I'm just trying to think how many different ways have I done up laces now One, two, three, four, at least six different ways. Now some of them could be very, very similar. There's got to be more than that. But there are so many different ways to do up your laces and there's heaps and heaps of resources out there and just videos of watching people do laces in different ways.

Speaker 1: 9:42

I had one learner who would tuck the ends of his lace into his shoes to make the bows for him, because that was easier than having to hold it all. So then he just had to do the same cross over, pull, great, perfect done. You know, there's the bunny ears method, there's the two loops method, there's the. I can't even think now. But there are truly lots and lots of different ways and some ways that I'm sitting there trying to figure it out and I find it really challenging for my brain really works for somebody else's brain. So if you're finding that shoelaces are particularly challenging and you know that it's not necessarily a fine motor component so they're able to hold the l, they can manipulate the laces, that's all okay, but it's just not working.

Speaker 1: 10:27

I'd really recommend going and having a look at what are some different ways we could do the laces together, which bits are easy, which bits are tricky. Therefore, which method works the best? And in saying that, if you're noticing that actually the fine motor parts were really, really well, then that's when we do backwards chaining. I'll do this much and I can help with these bits and you can pull those bits and then, over time and practice, the fine motor skills are going to build and develop. Or are we actually going to go? Do you know what the shoes are? Not the most important thing? We can have another round of Velcro shoes, or we can get the elastic laces shoes, or we can get the elastic laces and instead we can have some fine motor games or do some activities that are going to have a fine motor component for them, and you're naturally going to build that strength and those skills there instead of having something that's going to be super, super frustrating.

Speaker 1: 11:14

So we always want to be thinking about building as much independence as possible, but also making sure that the focus is on the right area. You know, do we really need to always learn laces? No, I really don't think so. Does it really matter, for some people and some children really, really want to do their laces and they're really motivated? Yeah, 100%, and I'm always going to help, and I'm always going to help build that independence.

Speaker 1: 11:47

But it's also important to consider at times is this where we need to be spending our physical and mental effort throughout the day? Or is this maybe where we adapt something? And, as I said, we'll talk about adapted clothing, but an adaptation for shoelaces is the pull ones, or changing to slip on shoes, or having Velcro shoes. There's lots of different adaptations that we can make, so that maybe that's the best way to go, because does it really matter as long as we've got shoes on our feet? No, not as much, and I know that there will be many a person who might disagree with me, and that's totally okay. These are my opinions around it and you know things that I've experienced in practice. But I do think you know and that's not to say that we'd never come back to laces, you know, maybe in three years or maybe next year, all of a sudden we're showing an interest in laces, and great, let's learn laces together. But it's just always thinking, you know, is this the challenge that we want to have to navigate every day together, or are we not quite ready for this challenge yet? In which case, can we adapt something else.

Speaker 1: 12:49

But my favorite bit around shoes is matching shoes to the right feet, and it can be really tricky because sometimes the shoes look really similar, particularly for smaller shoes, and they don't have as much of a curve around from where the big toe is, and so some of my favourite strategies to match shoes to feet are getting a sticker and cutting it in half and putting the sticker inside the sole of the shoe so that then, when you put the right and the left together, you match the sticker up. You can do the same with a name so you can write the name on like masking tape or something, so you write the child's name and then they've got to put their name together. So cut it in half, stick it in the shoes and then to match their feet they need to put their name together and then they know their rights and lefts. Well, no, they don't know their rights and lefts, but rights and lefts Well, no, they don't know the rights and lefts, but they know that the shoe goes on this foot and the shoe goes on that foot. It helps them build their understanding of their rights and lefts.

Speaker 1: 13:47

You can also take the bottom of the shoe and match it with your big toe, or sometimes that can be really tricky because then I have to take the bottom of the shoe and invert it to match it with my right foot. So sometimes I've even put the shoe on top of the foot first, check that there's no toes that are sticking out, and then I know that that's the right foot for my shoe. Again, that one only really works when the shoes are in, that you know size, that it means you can see the toes. Typically for runners or school shoes that's not as successful. So I really really I have not found a better strategy that works as consistently as stickers in the bottom of a shoe or names in the bottom of a shoe. If you have any others, let me know. Send me a message on Instagram or send me an email to bellsotcorner at gmailcom. I would love to hear them. But that is my big tip for shoes Get some stickers. They're fantastic, okay, okay.

Speaker 1: 14:41

So that's kind of some of the later dressing skills done, and what I want to spend the rest of today's episode talking about is the cognitive load that's associated with dressing, and you'll notice through some of the self-care season, a lot of what we talk about is the task itself and how we can adapt the task itself, but then also considering what is the thinking involved, particularly from a initiation. So starting the task, sequencing of the steps, persisting through the task so there's bits of problem solving. Then that kind of checking process of did I do it right or did I do it wrong, is it finished? And then being able to reflect on okay, well, what went well, what didn't, what might I change next time. And that sounds well, it sounds quite simple for some people because it goes well, you just do that. That's thinking that just happens. But remember, for our younger individuals, for our children, it doesn't always just happen.

Speaker 1: 15:42

And actually that's the really powerful piece, because that's the same thinking process that we do for so many different activities. It's the same thing that I'll do when I'm looking at washing my hair. Did I get all the soap suds out? It's the same thinking process that I'll do when I'm shooting a basketball how strong do I need to throw this Oop? I overshot it. What does that mean? What am I going to do now? It's the same thinking process that I might have for I don't know starting an essay. How am I going to plan this? What do I need? What's my sequence? What comes next? When do I know if it's finished? Can I do a check? It's the same thinking structure. We apply it in different ways. There are slight differences to it, but in a lot of our particularly our self-care tasks, it's a really, really nice time to start to build some of these skills and start to build some of this confidence in persisting through a problem and engaging in the problem solving side of things.

Speaker 1: 16:41

So let's think about some of the ways that we could help with sequencing, particularly in relation to dressing. So all of the strategies I'm giving yes, they're talking now more about the cognitive side of things, but all the strategies are going to be in relation to dressing. So you can do, if we're looking at sequencing and how we'd support with sequencing, we can do games and make it silly and do silly games around dressing for sequencing. So it could be as simple as dressing up a teddy bear and putting the jacket on first and then putting the top on, or putting the pants on and then putting the underwear on, or the trousers and then the pants. Looking at know well, that didn't work. What needs to happen, what goes first, you know, make it a bit silly or put the underwear on their head and go. The underwear doesn't go on the head, although underwear on the head is always always funny um, doing dress-up games.

Speaker 1: 17:38

So, like looking at what dress-up clothes you might have, or can you use mum and dad's clothes to dress up, and what can you do in terms of which bits goes first, or getting them to tell you what goes first and just making it really fun and silly, being like, oh quick, we've got to get ready, we're going to be fighting pirates. If we're going to be fighting pirates, I need my special jacket on, you know, to help me protect from all the I don't know fire, the breeding dragons, whatever it might be. Get a little bit silly and a little bit pretend with it. And then you're practicing the same skill, but not necessarily. And it's dressing, but it's not in the stressful or what can be the stressful environment of it's time to get dressed. We need to leave the house. It's the hey we're doing dressing in a really playful way. There is no pressure here. We've got a little bit more time. Also, looking at some of the bits around sequencing we want those opportunities for choice and control and honouring the choice that the child makes.

Speaker 1: 18:42

So, looking at. Let's say, I've got all the clothes out that we need to get dressed and they're all in a bundle on the floor and I might say, what are we doing first? And they might say I'm going to put my jacket on first. I go, ok, let's put your jacket on first. And then, you know, put the jacket on and then maybe put the underwear on and then the trousers on, and then we've got the T-shirt left and go hang on, your jacket's already on. What are we going to do? That's a bit silly, let's take that one off. Or I might not even say let's take that one off. I might say, oh, what happened? And see if I can leave that time. And maybe I'll hold up the t-shirt and be like um, I don't know here and just you know, use my face, look really confused, hold the jacket, give all those extra cues to see if they can go. Oh no, I've got to take off my jacket, put my shirt on and then I can put my jacket on.

Speaker 1: 19:40

Honouring their choices, even when we know the choice is wrong, is really powerful, because that's we get what we call naturally occurring problems. Within a situation, we naturally make mistakes. Mistakes are a really good thing, because then we can figure out how to change or how to fix the mistake, or how to pivot and do something slightly differently. And so if they said, oh, I'm going to put my jacket on and you go, we can't put our jacket on first. Now don't get me wrong, time pressures wise, there is always a time that you might need to do that, but, as much as possible, looking at, okay, go for it. Because as soon as I step in and say no, we need to do this first because this are they doing, the problem solving, or are we telling them the problem solving? Now there is a time and a place to tell them the problem solving, but really, really powerful if we can help them do the problem solving more and more. So then, kind of stepping on from that, it's the same when we think about some of our verbal prompts. Kind of stepping on from that, it's the same when we think about some of our verbal prompts. So, as much as possible, if we can prompt for something and leave a little bit of unknown, that's going to be really powerful.

Speaker 1: 20:53

So maybe we're looking at orientation of a t-shirt. Oh, I can see the tag and I can see the head hole. So I wonder, and just leaving the sentence there and seeing if they can go oh so the tag has to go at the back or the tag has to go at the front, and then let's try that. Or maybe you know, they've put their sock on upside down and you might look and go hmm, I can see the bumpy part of your socks, looking to the sky, is that comfortable, or maybe that should go? Does that go on your toes? No, I wonder where the bumpy part goes. So we're bringing their attention to what you've seen, what the problem is, and then seeing if we can just have these lovely I wonder statements. Have these lovely, does that go on your toes? And sometimes being silly about it, but sometimes also just stepping through a bit of a thinking process and helping them to go. Oh no, it goes on my heel or whatever it might be.

Speaker 1: 22:01

You know, another one could be like maybe if you're looking at starting to dress your top, you might go OK, I can see one, two, three holes on this side and I can see one hole on that side. So I've got a head and two arms. Hmm, I wonder which bit's the top arms. Hmm, I wonder which bit's the top and then seeing if they can figure out that maybe the three holes for your head and your two arms, that could be the top, and again this takes longer. So if we're thinking about setting up your day and how you're going to spend your time, making sure that you have the time to give to dressing, to be able to do these bits, so then you don't start to feel stressed and under pressure because we're running late, because I'm trying to help with the independence of dressing or you know saying, hey guys, I'm going to be 10 minutes late to lunch or whatever. The event is that we're going to. It's slightly harder with school, so maybe again this dressing practice happens in the afternoon. Always consider that stuff to set yourself up for success as much as possible.

Speaker 1: 23:07

Another really fun one for sequencing is get all the clothes out but put them in a really messy bundle or same for orientation. Actually Get the clothes, give them half inside out or all messed up and twisted and go. Okay, let's figure this out together. Let's find the tops Could do the same practice even around, like maybe it's laundry time, and so you's find the tops could do the same practice even around, like maybe it's laundry time and so you've gotten the clothes out of the laundry machine or the washing machine and make some of them, you know, a little bit twisted, not the right way up, and your child could have that pile to have to kind of untwist and lay the right way so that you can then fold them, give them little jobs around. These times can be a really nice one to then start to build bits of that independence.

Speaker 1: 23:50

Another really really powerful one for looking at the thinking side is getting it wrong, and so we've already said talking about like honoring their choices. But also when you're dressing, you can model getting it wrong and then either getting stuck and them having to become the teacher and tell you what to do, or just modeling getting it wrong and out loud modeling oh no, I did this. Oh right, well, I'm gonna either start again or I can fix it. I just need to do this and talking through the problem solving of what you're doing to help them start to see that in a no pressure environment, because they're already dressed or kids love being the teacher, and so maybe you get it wrong and you go. I need some help. I've done something very silly. I've gotten all twisted and all confused. You know, maybe you're putting your top on and your head gets stuck in the armhole and then go okay, I need some help. Have them help you and tell you what to do differently because, again, whilst they're not actively doing the dressing, they're doing the thinking behind the dressing, which is a great skill to practice always another really nice one particularly if you're finding that there's some challenges around one piece of clothing or that it just seems a little bit challenging or a little bit awkward, as maybe a child in your class or maybe your own child is trying to dress a particular piece.

Speaker 1: 25:19

So, like a great one is a top, or undressing a top. Same with jackets as well. Try different ways of dressing and undressing them together. So it naturally happens for all of us. You know, there's the method to undress your top where you can cross your arms over. So your right hand holds at your left hip and your left hand holds at your right hip and you pull your arms up and they uncross as they go up and the shirt comes off. You can also reach behind you and pull the back as they go up and the shirt comes off. You can also reach behind you and pull the back of your shirt from around the behind of your neck and pull it straight up and off. You can also hold under your sleeve, pull your arm down, push it up and over your head and pull it off your other arm.

Speaker 1: 25:56

There's so many different ways to undress that maybe, if the way that we're trying isn't working, explore some different ways together. Make it a bit silly of trying isn't working. Explore some different ways together. Make it a bit silly. Talk about which one's easier. You know, watch some YouTube videos together. Or you can watch some YouTube videos and have a bit of a practice and go I found this really cool thing today. Look what I learned. Maybe this could work for you too. And start to problem solve which bits of addressing you're actually the easy bits and which bits of tricky bits. Is it actually that this holding on to the shirt the whole time is really tricky and so we could just do it slightly differently? Or I can do it in a way that I can use two hands. There are so many different ways. And again, if you're finding this bit really tricky, talk to your child's occupational therapist or talk to your child's teacher. They have fantastic different ways to do it, to look at. Well, how could I do this slightly differently? Just like the laces guys. There are so many different ways to actually put on a piece of clothing.

Speaker 1: 26:57

All right, last bit that we're going to touch on for some of the cognitive bits and pieces, particularly around dressing, but this one is more relevant for everything before we move on to adaptive clothing is looking at praise. So we always, always want to be praising. It's especially powerful when we can praise for what they have done. So just saying good job can be really lovely at times, but the good job doesn't actually attribute the value to what was being done. So we could say, wow, look at that, you got your shoes on so fast today. Or, hang on, did you really just put your top on all by yourself? Really, that's so cool, that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 27:42

So thinking about like, what is the actual thing that you've noticed that they've done really well and being really explicit in that. And it's the same way that you can make dressing a bit of a game, being like I don't think you can. No, no, I don't think so. I don't think you can get dressed faster than I can. Let's go and see and make it a little bit silly, and then your praise is there being like, wow, you did that so quickly, you did it faster than I did, that's incredible. And so then that way, we're really attributing the praise to what we've seen. That's been really good and helps them know yeah, I feel really good about that. I did just dress myself instead of, oh, they said good job, and maybe I know what that's for, but maybe I don't. So it's just always one to consider when giving praise. Maybe I don't, so it's just always one to consider when giving praise. It's really really powerful when you can be very explicit in the praise that you're giving, because that helps them not have to think about what am I being praised for, but I know exactly what I'm being praised for and I feel really really good about that.

Speaker 1: 28:38

Alrighty, finish off talking about adapting clothing. So there are so many different types of adapted clothing now which fantastic. And we could adapt clothing for a number of reasons. We might adapt clothing for a sensory consideration. We might adapt clothing for a motor skill consideration. So maybe somebody doesn't have the same range or the same strength, or maybe they are in a wheelchair and they have limited core strength, and so we need to adapt the clothing to be successful for them to wear. Always think about when we're looking at adapting clothing. We want to work within the motor skills that that person has and this is where I strongly recommend talking to an occupational therapist who has met your child and can give you really specific strategies.

Speaker 1: 29:23

But the general principle, so you're aware, is looking at what are the movements that I can do, what is the strength that I have, or what are my sensory considerations that I don't like or things that I need my clothing to do, and therefore what is the best clothing to match that. So there is more and more adaptive clothing out there. There are things like just so you guys are aware, so there are button-up shirts where instead of the buttons, so there's buttons sitting on the front of the shirt but there's actually hidden magnets behind each button that snap all the way down the front, so it looks like a button-up shirt but you don't actually have to do any of the buttons as well. Sensory friendly clothing we'll chat about more next episode. There is heaps out there, but next episode we're going to talk on the sensory considerations around dressing. So that fits really nicely and we'll jump into that one.

Speaker 1: 30:09

Then there are clothes that open at the side, so they make it a lot easier to dress when you're seated, so instead of having to pull something over my top, I can bring it around my body instead. They are fantastic. There's clothing with spots for tube access instead. They are fantastic, there's clothing with spots for tube access. So maybe if someone has a peg into their peg bed, that you then don't have to like lift up the shirt all the time, it can just pop right out. It's fantastic.

Speaker 1: 30:35

Shoes that have zips on them. So again, you know what I was saying about laces. If laces really aren't the way to go, there are now shoes with zips. Tops that either stop a little bit shorter, particularly for wheelchair users, so your tops or your jackets don't get caught up in your wheels. Same with trousers that might sit a little bit taller for a bit of comfort when you're in your wheelchair. Clothes that have looser waistbands but might still look like jeans but actually are super stretchy at the waistbands. And again, some of this is the sorts of clothing that you might see for younger children, but they're now being made for older children and even adults as well.

Speaker 1: 31:09

It is truly, truly fantastic, and so always one to be aware of and things that you can consider for your child if needed, and so I just wanted to kind of let you know that happens. So yeah, there's accessible openings child if needed and so I just wanted to kind of let you know that happens. So yeah, there's accessible openings. So medical ports, feeding tubes, catheters, looking at adjustable waistbands and things that might allow easy access. If you need to access a nappy or a pad, there are so many different ones out there. Have a little bit of a google if you're interested. If you get stuck, just let me know. I can send you some lovely websites.

Speaker 1: 31:45

But it's just really important to always think about. We want to be looking for the most independence possible and sometimes for the most independence possible that piece of clothing isn't going to work, so we adapt the clothing and we look at what is the clothing that we can access that is adaptable to allow for as much independence as possible. So, thinking about maybe, if it's a wheelchair user and the upper body strength to lift the top up and over my head's really tricky but I can put on a top where I can pull it on one arm. I can lean forward slightly, pull it across my back, put the other arm through, bring it across the front of my body and it goes click, click, click under my arm that I can do so. That way you don't always have to be in. You know, maybe it's magnets that it click, click, clicks or whatever it is. There's lots of different accessible options because then I can independently dress myself instead of having to always pull a t-shirt on over my head because that's not a movement that I can do or that they can do. So, thinking about some of those components when we look at dressing, working within the motor skills that they have, but then getting the clothing to match the motor skills to allow for that independence.

Speaker 1: 32:52

Alrighty, guys. That brings us to the end of the episode today. As I said, next week we're going to finish up dressing with, just like, some sensory considerations for dressing. I don't think it's going to be a very long episode, but we'll see. Sometimes I end up chatting for longer than I expect, but until then, guys, have fun trying some of those strategies. As always, please share the podcast around with anyone you think might find it helpful. Please, please, please give it a rate and a review. It's so, so helpful for me on the back end of things, and if you have any questions or anything, send me a message on Instagram, at bellsotcorner, or send me an email at bellsotcorner, at gmailcom. All right, bye, guys. Talk soon you.