Independence with Dressing Skills (2024)

  • Eye Hand Coordination, Fine Motor Skills, Occupational Therapy, Occupational Therapy Activities
  • byColleen Beck
  • April 20, 2016

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Here we are covering dressing skills as an ADL that are used in occupational therapy dressing interventions, as well as dressing skills for preschoolers and all ages, specifically the underlying fine motor skills needed for dressing skills.

These self-dressing skills are typically initiated in the toddler years, however if a toddler has little to no awareness or regression in these skills, a look at toddler behavior red flags may be in order. Self-dressing is part of child development at this stage. Let’s cover this in greater detail…

Dressing skills

“I can do it myself!”


It’s a phrase that most parents hear at one time or another as their child begins to develop the skills needed for independence in self-care. Sometimes, however, there are factors that interfere with appropriate development of function.

Parents may wonder when their child will begin to pull on their shirt or don shoes and socks with independence. The ability to dress one’s self withindependencerequires the development of many fine motor skills.


This month in the Functional Skills for Kids series, we are exploring Dressing as an activity of daily living. Stop by to see all of the posts in the series here.

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Dressing Skills that Require Fine Motor Skills

Pulling on socks, managing buckles, and tugging on a hat. There are many portions of self-dressing that require fine motor skill development;

  • Pulling socks off requires a pinch grip, strength in the hands, and bilateral coordination.
  • Putting socks on requires arch development, opposition of the thumb, intrinsic hand strength, bilateral coordination, wrist extension and ulnar deviation.
  • Pulling pants up requires eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, and wrist and hand stability.
  • Fastening snaps and pulling up zippers on pants (Clothing fasteners will be addressed in another month’s topic)
  • Donning and doffing undergarments requires pinch grasp
  • Threading a belt through belt loops requires bilateral coordination, prehension grasp, pincer/tripod/functional grasp and wrist positioning
  • Fastening a belt buckle requires tripod grasp and bilateral coordination, hand dominance or preference, extended wrist and ulnar deviation.
  • Donning and doffing a shirt requires bilateral coordination, crossing midline, extrinsic and intrinsic muscle strength of the hands, and forearm supination and pronation.
  • Donning an doffing a coat requires bilateral coordination, crossing midline, extrinsic and intrinsic muscle strength of the hands, and forearm supination and pronation.
  • Clothing fasteners such as buttons, zippers, snaps, buckles, and ties require intrinsic and extrinsic muscle strength, prehension grasp, in-hand manipulation, hand preference and bilateral control and eye-hand coordination.
  • Pulling on boots requires a hook grasp of the hand, strength, and proximal stability.
  • Donning a winter cap requires precision grasp, bilateral coordination, and motor planning.
  • Shoe tying and one handed shoe tying require motor planning, visual perception, fine motor skills, balance, and more.

If it seems as though every step of dressing requires fine motor skill development, that is because it’s true! Each step of each dressing task requires many fine motor skills.

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Fine Motor Manipulation Skills that are Necessary Independent Dressing

Let’s break down these fine motor skills a bit to see how they are helping a child complete tasks independently.

Fine Motor Skills Needed in Dressing:

  1. Extrinsic Muscle Strength: The extrinsic muscles move the fingers and thumb in full flexion and extension. They enable a power grasp on functional items. The extrinsic muscles are essential for cohesive work alongside the intrinsic muscles of the hands during dynamic grasp patterns.
  2. Intrinsic Muscle Strength: The intrinsics allow us to use graded movements, shape the arches of the hands, and enable dexterity and precision. They control the flexion and extension of the Metacarpophalandeal joints and power movements such as finger adduction, finger abduction, thumb abduction, thumb adduction, thumb flexion and thumb opposition.
  3. Prehension: There are three types of prehension grasps-static grips, gravity dependent grips, and dynamic grips.
  4. In-Hand Manipulation: This fine motor skill typically develops around two years of age. Between 2-3 the child progresses in palm-finger translation and shift. However, at this age, they may prefer to manipulate objects between two hands instead of within one. Read more about in-hand manipulation skills here.
  5. Hand Preference and Bilateral Control: From the age of 2-3, a child will switch hands to avoid crossing the midline, They may show use of a preferred hand, but it may switch between activities.
  6. Eye-Hand Coordination: Eye-Hand Coordination is accuracy of reach and control of the arm in space, guided by vision. During dressing tasks or any functional skill, the reach should be accurate and controlled, and directed by the shoulder’s stability and mobility. In reaching for items, the hands and eyes should work together with smooth visual tracking of the hand and with the eyes guiding the hand.
  7. Precision of Release: There should not be immature releasing patterns noted during dressing tasks. These might include flinging or dropping objects. Rather, the child should be able to release items while their arm is positioned in space and with controlled motions. Read more about precision of release.
  8. Motor Planning: During functional tasks, there should be coordinated movements with appropriate positioning and posturing. Read more about motor planning here.
  9. Separation of the Two Sides of the Hand:Separation of the two sides of the handallows for stability and power with precision of the thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger.

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Biomechanical Postural Control in self-dressing

Before the fine motor skills can be used in functional tasks, such as dressing, there are biomechanical skills that are prerequisite.

These are proximal stability skills that enable distal precision and control.

  • Postural Control– Proximal to the arm is the upper body. Postural instability will effect the use of the forearm, wrist, hand, and fingers and complicate the motor planning and use of the hands in functional reach. When we reach with two hands, we shift our weight and move our body’s center of gravity. Without dynamic control of one’s posture, shifts in weight will result in over or under reach of distal motions.
  • Shoulder stability with motion– Fine motor use of the hands requires stability of the shoulder joint. The joint needs to maintain stability even during motion and in all planes for controlled arm positioning.
  • Control of the forearm– The arm between the elbow and wrist moves in supinated and pronated motions. Supination is essential for many precision tasks and allows us to see what our fingers are doing in tool or fastener use. Pronation is typically used for power grasps and hook grasps infunctionaltasks.
  • Wrist Position– A functional wrist position is essential for precision grasp and manipulation. Extension of the wrist controls the length of the finger flexor muscles to an optimal position for grasp and precision. Positioning the wrist in 40 degrees of wrist extension allows for efficient muscle function. The wrist also moves with radial and ulnar deviation. A position of 15 degrees of ulnar deviation promotes stability and force in the ulnar side of the hand.
  • Palmer Arches- While palmer arch development is a component of fine motor skill development in itself, it is also a proximal stability source for precision of the distal fingers. Appropriate arch development provides positioning and stability to allow for fine motor dexterity of the fingers.

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Tips to Promote Independence in Dressing Skills

When fine motor skills are the problem area behind decreased independence in self-dressing, it is helpful to build individual skills.

Children should be provided with many repetitions of self-care skills in environments where dressing tasks are happening naturally.

  • Dressing practice happens at the beginning and end of the day but there are many opportunities for working on the fine motor skills needed in dressing tasks.
  • 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 can further build independence with dressing through pretend play by using dress-up clothes.
  • Repetition can be a strategy for increasing opportunities for practice.
  • Provide various dress-up clothes in different social roles for many ways to practice dressing skills.
  • Encourage role play as a technique to build fine motor skills in dressing: Children can dress a baby doll.
  • Provide alternate opportunities to practice fine motor skills needed for dressing such astoysto help kids practice dressing skills.

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Develop fine motor skills needed for functional tasks with these activities:

Gross Grasp Activities

In-Hand Manipulation Activities

Motor Planning Activities

Open Thumb Web Space Activities

Hand Dominance Activities

Grip Pattern Activities

Precision of Grasp and Release Activities

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Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

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Independence with Dressing Skills (2024)

FAQs

Independence with Dressing Skills? ›

DEVELOPING INDEPENDENCE WITH SELF CARE SKILLS

How does getting dressed promote independence? ›

Allowing children to choose their clothes and dress themselves promotes independence in several ways. By letting them decide what they want to wear each day, they're learning to have opinions, and express them, and make decisions, which will help them throughout life.

Why is dressing independently important? ›

Learning to dress independently is an important life skill. It gives your child a sense of achievement to master a new skill. First your child will be able to help you as you dress them. They will hold out a foot for you to put a sock on and push their arms through their sleeves.

What is independent dressing? ›

As children get older there is an expectation they can complete the steps of dressing independently to complete tasks such as: managing their clothes for toileting, taking shoes on and off for play in the sandpit, dressing and undressing for school swimming, playing dress-ups with friends and making the morning routine ...

When should a child be able to dress independently? ›

By ages 4 or 5 most young children are beginning to fully dress themselves but they still need help with some buttons and zippers occasionally. Children this age are also typically capable of putting on their own accessories, including belts and shoes.

How do clothes express individuality? ›

The style and color of our garments can communicate volumes about our identity and values. For example, someone who frequently wears bold and vibrant colors may be seen as confident and outgoing.

How does clothing affect self-confidence? ›

Ill-fitting clothing can make us feel uncomfortable and self-conscious, and this can negatively impact our mood. On the contrary, wearing clothes that fit well and flatter our body shape can enhance our self-esteem and confidence. When we feel good about our appearance, it inevitably reflects in our mood and demeanor.

How to teach independent dressing? ›

15 Tips for Teaching Child Dressing Skills
  1. Give your child options to learn self-dressing skills. ...
  2. Leave clothes in an awkward position to encourage self-dressing. ...
  3. Make getting dressed fun and build confidence. ...
  4. Explore non-preferred shoes or clothes instead of getting dressed.

How does the way of dressing influence identity? ›

Traditional attire often embodies historical, religious, or regional values, providing a visual representation of heritage. Additionally, contemporary fashion choices can convey individual or collective identity, incorporating elements of social, economic, and political influences.

What does psychology say about dressing? ›

The clothes we wear not only reflect our personality and values but also shape the way we perceive ourselves. This phenomenon, known as "self-verification theory," suggests that we tend to seek clothing that aligns with our self-concept, reinforcing our desired identity.

What is the golden rule of dressing? ›

You've heard the Golden Rule (2/3 to 1/3 ratio or that third's work better than halves or quarters) is aesthetically pleasing but did you know that you can apply this to styling your clothes, too?

How to improve dressing skills? ›

Here are some tips to help you improve your dressing sense:
  1. Define your personal style: ...
  2. Understand your body type: ...
  3. Dress for the occasion: ...
  4. Invest in quality basics: ...
  5. Pay attention to fit: ...
  6. Experiment with colors and patterns: ...
  7. Accessorize wisely: ...
  8. Pay attention to grooming:
Jun 23, 2023

How to teach dressing skills? ›

A good way to teach your child how to get dressed is to break down each task into small steps and teach them the last step first. Once your child can do the last step of the task, teach them the second-last step, then the third-last step and so on.

How to teach a child with special needs to dress independently? ›

8+ Tips on How to Help a Special Needs Child Dress Independently
  1. Pay attention. ...
  2. Start by showing them how to take their clothes off. ...
  3. Ask them to participate in the dressing process as you dress them. ...
  4. Invest in lots of loose bottoms. ...
  5. Sit them down as they dress. ...
  6. Teach them how to do buttons.
Oct 19, 2020

Should children be allowed to wear their own clothes? ›

Allowing children to choose their own clothes can help them express their individuality. Self-confidence develops more quickly in children who freely express what they like and dislike. Sharing their opinions about their clothes allows them to express themselves more easily in other areas as well.

What should a 7 year old be able to do independently? ›

By this time, children can dress themselves, catch a ball more easily using only their hands, and tie their shoes. Having independence from family becomes more important now. Events such as starting school bring children this age into regular contact with the larger world. Friendships become more and more important.

Does fashion allow people to express their individuality? ›

Fashion plays a significant role in our lives, and it is more than just a way to cover our bodies. It is a form of self-expression and a way to communicate our identity to the world.

How could you help a child with dressing but allow them to be independent? ›

Minimize frustration.

ide clothes that are easy to put on. Loose tee shirts and elastic waist pants are fantastic options. Save buttons, zippers, and snaps for when your child is ready to take on a challenge. It's also an ideal time to introduce Montessori dressing frames, adding a touch of fun to the learning process!

How does the way you dress affect your success? ›

Dressing for success

The researchers look less at how our clothes make others perceive us but instead at how our clothes make us think about ourselves and behave at work. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the researchers found that when we feel good about how we look, we perform better in our work.

Why dressing up boost confidence? ›

What you wear reflects your self-image, so dressing up can be an opportunity to keep defining who you are to yourself and others. Remember: playing dress-up is for everyone! Use clothing to de-stress, build confidence, express yourself, and tell your story on your terms.

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