Get clothes

#clothes#pick clothes#get dressed#wardrobe#prepare

Getting clothes sounds like one errand but is really several small decisions: go there, choose, pick out, bring back. The visual support below holds the chain together so no item stays behind in the wardrobe.

An illustration of a boy wearing green shorts, standing next to an open drawer, taking clothes out of it with one hand and holding a stack of colorful folded clothes in the other arm.

Get clothes

An illustration of a boy wearing green shorts, standing next to an open drawer, taking clothes out of it with one hand and holding a stack of colorful folded clothes in the other arm.

A person is taking clothes from an open wooden chest filled with various garments.

Picking clothes from chest

A person is taking clothes from an open wooden chest filled with various garments.

A person is taking clothes from an open dresser drawer with folded garments inside.

Picking clothes from drawer

A person is taking clothes from an open dresser drawer with folded garments inside.

A woman taking a purple shirt out of a white dresser drawer filled with colorful clothes.

Get clothes

A woman taking a purple shirt out of a white dresser drawer filled with colorful clothes.

An individual smiles while pulling clothes from a box.

Get clothes

An individual smiles while pulling clothes from a box.

About this visual support

An empty room, an open wardrobe door and suddenly a child standing there with two socks who has forgotten the rest. Going to get clothes is a classic case of a task with executive function running quietly underneath: start, hold the plan, switch between choices, come back with everything.

When the steps live on a picture board, it becomes possible to check off one thing at a time without keeping the whole plan in mind. Bottoms, top, socks, underwear, an extra jumper or vest depending on the season – a visual list keeps the links from dropping. It is also easier to ask for help with a specific step when the child can point instead of explain.

A concrete tip: keep the order in the visual support the same as the order the clothes will be put on. The fetch then becomes a rehearsal of the dressing, and the two reinforce each other. In the Routined app you can save that order as a routine the child opens on their own in the morning, so the errand always looks the same.