Dressing and undressing skills are very much a part of everyday life for all of us. The act of dressing and undressing oneself completely independently can be a complicated and difficult process and requires a number of pre-requisite skills:

All children learn to undress first. You can help your child to learn to dress by breaking each part of dressing into little steps. Then, as they learn each step, you can let them carry out more steps for themselves.

• Motor skills e.g. balance, co-ordinating movements (gross motor skills) and fine motor skills.
• Sensory skills e.g. track objects with eyes, discriminate differences in size and shape, handle different textures and identify objects by touch only.
• Body scheme e.g. knowing where each body part relates in space, knowing that the body has two sides and a midline

Some children find dressing hard because they have movement or learning difficulties.

Learning to dress independently is an important life skill. Not only does it give the child a sense of achievement to master a new skill but also allows the parent a few precious minutes first thing in the morning! It will really help your child if they can get their coat and shoes on by themselves before they start school. Find out more here.