Put on clothes
Seams that scratch the neck, a tag that pokes and the shirt that goes before the trousers but not always does. The visual support below sets the order so that clothes stop being a puzzle every morning.
♂Put on clothes
An image of a boy putting on a blue t-shirt.
♂Put on shirt
A boy is putting on a shirt.
♀Putting on t-shirt
A girl putting a blue t-shirt over her head.
About this visual support
The most common stall during dressing is not refusal but two things interfering at once. One is sensory: a seam that scratches, a fabric that itches, a label in the neck that has been there forever but is suddenly unbearable. The other is uncertainty about which garment comes first, underwear, trousers or top, and which way round the piece should go.
When the pictures sit in a fixed order next to the clothes, the whole moment turns from an open choice into a row of small markers to pass. The child does not have to hold the sequence in their head and can simply look at the next image once the current piece is on. That leaves room for attention to stay with what is actually happening on the body.
A practical tip: lay the clothes out in the same order as the pictures, ideally the night before, with the outside out and the front facing up. The direction question is then already solved, and any scratching seams can be checked calmly before the rush begins. If you want to pair the picture sequence with a gentle start timer, you can do that in the Routined app, which has a 14-day trial.