Strategies and Advice

Strategy Snapshots:

• Have a consistent routine for bathing including, time of day, what you use to wash your child and the order that you wash your child.
• Encourage your child to become independent with one aspect of washing first. For example you put the soap on the wash cloth then give it to your child to wash their body.
• Once your child has mastered one step, introduce another aspect of the routine.
• Give your child lots of praise/reward (e.g sticker chart) for their successes and attempts at being independent

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Strategy Snapshots:

• Practice undressing first, getting undressed is easier than dressing.
• Sit with your child during dressing activities to guide them through the task.
• Follow a consistent sequence and technique when dressing (place clothes in a pile of what order to put on first/or use visual strip).
• Practice with loose fitting clothes as these are easier to get on.
• Label clothes clearly to identify front and back of garments.
• Break down each step of the task and teach your child in reverse order (backward chaining).
• Practice makes perfect.

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Strategy Snapshots:

• Where possible, avoid light touch. Always touch your child gently but firmly.
• A mirror can be useful as your child can see what is happening.
• Massage your child’s scalp before combing, brushing, or cutting their hair.
• Try using a thick or wide handled brush as this will be easier to grip.
• Consider a wide toothed comb as this will cut down resistance on hair.
• Ask your child to try leaning their elbows against a surface when attempting to brush their hair as this will provide them with greater stability.

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Strategy Snapshots:

• Create a regular mealtime routine. Try and sit with your child and model using cutlery and trying new foods.
• Explore new foods outside of mealtimes to reduce pressure of trying new foods. Try to involve foods in play activities or get your child to help with meal preparation.
• Reduce distractions and try and avoid the use of screens at the table.
• Give your child lots of verbal praise at their attempts to explore new foods.
• If your child has difficulty holding cutlery try using thicker handled cutlery.

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Strategy Snapshots:

• Provide a wide variety of opportunities for handwriting, keep it fun and interesting.
• Posture and position: Ensure this is appropriate with your child’s feet planted on the floor or a foot block.
• To encourage the development of a functional grasp demonstrate and reposition your child’s finger on the pencil, use visual clues for finger position and trial different shaped pencils (e.g. triangular pencils).
• Try lots of different handwriting activities such as pencil control mazes, pencil trails, dot to dots, overwriting, copying, and tracing.
• Use visual clues to help with size, spacing and position of letters (e.g. Lined paper, ice lolly sticks, stickers).
• Practice – research shows that regular practice helps improves handwriting.

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Strategy Snapshots:

• As soon as your child stops putting things in their mouth give them little pieces of chalk or crayon and big sheets of paper to scribble on.
• Use a variety of different mark makers (e.g. thick felt pens, chunky crayons, chunky chalk) so that they can start to learn how to hold a pencil.
• Give your child plenty of opportunities to try using a pencil/crayon.
• Encourage your child to draw and trace basic shapes with their index finger in a variety of different materials e.g. sand, lentils, finger paints, shaving foam.
• Threading, peg board, picking items up with tweezers/tongs, inset puzzles, and construction blocks are useful activities for developing pre-writing skills.

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• Remove the pedal and lower the height of the seat so your child’s feet are touching the ground. This will make it into a balance bike.
• Encourage your child to use their feet to push along. They can begin using alternative feet and when confident, lifting both feet together to propel forward. This will help them to practice balance and using the breaks.
• Begin practicing on a flat surface and as their confidence grows move onto small downward slopes.
• When your child is ready, add pedals and introduce slow pedalling.
• Remember to practice regularly and make it fun and enjoyable.

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