Learning to get dressed

Charlotte had to take a week off from therapy because she was sick.  She is back at it this week and doing well.  The first week with the new schedule was tough, especially because during the 2 hour therapy, she has 4 different sessions with 3 different therapists (one person does the first and last session).  This means she has to deal with transition, which is something she really, really struggles with. 

The first week she had a complete melt down for at least 10 min when they changed therapists and activities.  This week she did really well with the transitions and only fussed for a minute or so.  This is really great because we’ve been working hard at home on transitions. 

We prepare her by describing what we will be doing next (the idea of next was something we also had to teach her because she would fuh-reak out if we mentioned that we would be taking a bath next, but she really wanted to read for example).  If she gets upset, we take a moment to help her calm down by giving her hugs and cuddles and showing empathy (I know you’re sad, but we can still have fun when you’re ready).  We also give her lots and lots of choices (the shoes she wears, jacket on or off, help from mommy or doing it herself, etc). 

They’ve noticed that she is doing much better at spontaneously mimicking sounds and actions by both children and adults.  She has to work on going up and down stairs by taking one stair, foot to foot rather than stopping on each stair with both feet.  (Part of her problem is that she is so short!)  She also has to work on starting with the opposite leg she is most comfortable with (to help even out her sides a bit more).

She is working on following directions and then making her own choices.  First an adult shows two activities while she observes, then she gets to choose which activity they do.  She is starting to understand that concept much better.  Helping her understand choices was a difficult task for us.  We use to ask her ‘Choose one plate, the blue one or the pink one.’  She would always point to the one she did NOT want and then get upset for giving her the wrong plate.  We had to rephrase the question to ‘Show me which plate is Charlotte’s plate’ for her to understand.  This has helped her learn how to choose an item/activity.

She is also starting to make a lot of strides socially.  She plays well with other children, is beginning to seek their attention involve them in activities, she shares willingly by offering toys or sharing when asked, and she also spontaneously signs ‘mine’.  This is a big deal because she is really starting to learn to communicate her needs with signs and words, rather than just throwing a tantrum.

The last area we are working on is learning how to get dressed and undressed.  Charlotte used to do this all the time.  Remember this and this and this and this and this?  In July 2009 when we really started having concerns about Charlotte’s development because she just seemed to stop doing so many things (especially with her speech), I don’t think we realized that she forgot how to get dressed/undressed.  We just assumed she lost interest.  It wasn’t until they did the occupational assessment in February 2010 that we realized she didn’t know how to get dressed or undressed anymore.

She’s a quick study!  She can get dressed and undressed mostly without assistance, but we make her practice all the time.  We’ve noticed that something requires even a tiny bit of effort and she can’t do it in one try, she gives up  and either moves onto something else or begins to throw a tantrum.  We are trying to teach her patience and perseverance.

(Okay so after that really long update about Charlotte, I’m getting to the funny part of this post.)  Since you know we have almost twins, the things we work on with Charlotte, we also end up working on with Cooper too.  Although I would prefer not to teach Cooper to get undressed (especially since he has an affinity for being naked and pooping on the floor), it’s not reasonable to make Charlotte practice and not Cooper (also because it seems to motivate Charlotte if Cooper is doing it).  I’d say Cooper has nearly mastered it.  He was dressed in his normal clothing, shorts and a t-shirt.  Chris was not paying attention and a few minutes later, this is what Cooper was wearing: