Personal Care

Dressing (An issue with dressing may be related to proprioceptive, tactile or fine motor difficulties).
- Dressing in front of a mirror can help provide visual cues to improve sequencing and body awareness
- Provide a visual sequence to support the routine – this could include cues such as ‘check your shirt is tucked in’ and a picture of same
- Practice the routine and keep the same sequence each time
- Reward appropriate dressing
- Some students find different items of clothing uncomfortable and distracting, these students may benefit from wearing something tight underneath their uniform like a Lycra sports garment, other students may prefer adding heavy books to the pockets of blazers for example.
Toileting (an issue with toileting may be related to maturity, proprioceptive, tactile and gross motor difficulties, below are some general strategies)
- Be aware of bathroom lighting levels and reduce any loud noises
- Some students may benefit from a definite time limit to the task e.g. wash hands for 1 minute. Others may find this heightens anxiety.
- Provide a visual or symbol so they can indicate they need bathroom
- If they are unaware of when they need to ask for the bathroom, think about habit training (having set times for bathroom visits)
- Provide options for cleaning e.g. moist toilet wipes and toilet tissue or paper towels, fabric towels, anti-bacterial gel and blow dryers for hand hygiene.
- Use their preference for routine to your advantage
  - Teach the whole routine from communicating need to go to washing hands afterwards
  - Keep sequence the same each time
  - Use visual cues to support the routine (e.g. Check schedule- enter bathroom-undress-sit on toilet- wipe-flush-dress- wash and dry hands – return to class)
- Reward appropriate toilet behaviour
Visual schedules should be in the bathroom / dressing area
Social Stories that teach students about how to behave in certain situations, can be effective to teach variety of skills, including toileting and personal care
- ‘Using the toilet’, ‘Keeping myself clean’, ‘Getting dressed’
- Published resources eg ‘Liam goes Poo in the Toilet’ (Whelen Banks (2009)

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