Help with dressing

[Robinni]

DS(6) (asd) has difficulty with buttons, zips, clips, tie etc. He may need to be able to dress and undress himself next school year. Any tips to improve his fine motor skills?

I found that with shirts, putting a Sharpie mark or sewing a mark with a bright thread, beside the middle button and middle buttonhole really helped DD get started with buttoning and saved ages of time getting dressed as she then didn't just guess which button went in which hole and have to re-do it over and over.

Shoes, get slip-ons, velcro fastenings, or use elastic laces that make shoes easy to slip on and off without having to be tied each time.

Always expect him to take a LOT longer than everyone else to complete the task and never chivvy and chide or tell him he needs to speed up, because he can't.

Maybe a gadget would help him with buttons, these are available

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284846659412?

or with fatter handle depending on his hand praxis
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314068608964?

A lot of fine motor skills can improve with practise, so anything you can think of that he can do to hone those skills will help.
Lots of ideas here
www.theottoolbox.com/fine-motor-skills/

Has DS been assessed by an OT?

If the tie is a normal tie rather than clip on, DS may find it easier to only loosen it when taking it off rather than undoing and redoing it. You can get easy dressing shirts with Velcro instead of some buttons. Or some find only undoing some buttons and putting the shirt on like a T-shirt easier. You can get easy dressing trousers too that are pull on.

Having said that, if DS needs support when dressing staff should help.

Hi thank you so much for replies, some great ideas. DS hasn’t been assessed by OT yet but I would assume that’s up and coming this year.

I wouldn’t assume DS will automatically be assessed by OT.

From the point of view we will push for it or pay for it privately - he’s due to have an intervention appointment in the next number of months, and considering his issues, I think OT may form part of the initial priorities.