Occupational Therapy in Charlotte

Halloween has passed, but dressing up doesn't have to end! There are a number of benefits of having a dress up box for all children, particularly kids with developmental delays, autism, fine motor coordination difficulties, or sensory processing challenges.

Self-Care: One benefit is having a fun way to work on self-care skills like dressing, buttoning, and Velcro. Increasing the ability to dress yourself and work small fasteners is a skill that requires alot of repetition, but using a dress up box as a PLAY activity masks the challenges of these skills and makes practice fun!

Touch Processing: Fill your dress up box with a variety of materials and sensory challenges. Dressing up is often more motivating than trying to address tactile sensitives directly. Provide items like frilly petticoats, feathers, fringe, leggings, princess gloves, animal gloves, masks, crowns, hats, shoes, and other costumes that stretches your child's sensitivity to textures.

Imagination: Imaginative play can be a challenge for children on the autism spectrum, so use dressing up as an opportunity to increase play skills!

Independence: Another challenge for some children, especially those with developmental delays, cognitive deficits or autism can be knowing what is an appropriate article of clothing for the different seasons. A dress up box geared toward this area, could include clothing appropriate for specific seasons and then help your child select his own outfit.

As an occupational therapist at Child and Family Development, one of my goals is to make therapy and learning fun!