Dressing Milestones and Strategies for Kids

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Milestones related to dressing in children are important indicators of their developmental progress and functional independence. Here's a general guide to dressing milestones from infancy through early childhood:

• Infancy (0-12 months):

  • Undressing: Begins to show awareness of clothing being removed, often by grasping clothes or kicking legs.

  • Dressing: Involves limited participation; may hold out arms or legs to assist.

  • Skills to Encourage: Encourage exploration of textures by touching and feeling different fabrics. Provide opportunities for reaching towards clothes during dressing.

• Toddlerhood (1-3 years):

  • Undressing: Learns to remove loose-fitting clothing with some assistance (e.g., pulling off socks and shoes (12-18 months), pulling down pants (age 2), removing pants with elastic waist (age 2-3), and unzipping jackets to remove (age 3).

  • Dressing: Begins to participate actively in dressing tasks by pushing arms and legs through holes (12-18 months), attempting to pull up elastic waist pants by lifting a leg (age 2) and unbuttoning a large button (age 2-3).

  • Skills to Encourage: Encourage participation by offering choices and allowing extra time for dressing tasks to allow for learning opportunities and working through frustration. Focus on small victories!

• Preschool (3-5 years):

  • Undressing: Can remove most clothing items independently.

  • Dressing: Able to manage simple fasteners like zippers (pulling up after it is started) and large buttons independently (age 3-4). Can put on overhead shirts with minimal assistance (age 3-4). Can manage pants with help to zip and fasten pants (age 3-4). Able to put socks and shoes on without laces but may be on the wrong feet (age 3-4).

  • Skills to Encourage: Practice with a variety of clothing fasteners. You can start at the tabletop and progress to manipulating while wearing. Allow opportunities for independent practice while maintaining support as needed. Playing dress up is perfect for skill development and can present the task with more fun and less pressure or frustration!

• School-age (5-6 years):

  • Undressing: Independently removes all clothing items including those with buttons and zippers.

  • Dressing: Dresses self independently including fasteners. Can manage more complex clothing items like belts and tie shoes.

  • Skills to Encourage: Encourage practicing dressing for different weather conditions.

Don’t be alarmed if your child is not yet doing these things! This is a general guide and each child develops at their own rate. Exposure is key and the more practice they have the better their abilities will be, less frustrated they will be, and the more confidence they will have in their abilities. Try out this fun pop tube strategy (in video here) for teaching dressing skills to your kids! If your child continues to have difficulty hitting their dressing milestones, reach out to an occupational therapist!