Simplifying Mornings with a Clothing Choice Board
My autistic daughter was having a hard time getting dressed in the morning. It seemed to be very overwhelming and was causing a lot of anxiety for her which made our mornings really hard. Much of the time, she just wanted to stay in her pajamas (sometimes the same pair) all of the time. Pajamas sometimes is ok, pajamas all of the time isn’t realistic. We talked to her therapy team and we came up with this idea of a clothing choice board.
Simplifying Mornings With a Clothing Choice Board | Making the Board
First, I took pictures of all of her clothes. Anything that was on her choice board, no matter what stage she was at, were things she wanted to wear. If she didn't like to wear it, for whatever reason, it didn't make it onto the choice board. I organized them into categories like everyday dresses, church dresses, tops, and bottoms. Having categories gives her a lot of control over what she is going to wear each day. Every morning, I ask her what she wants to wear and she can tell me she wants to wear pants and a shirt, a dress, sometimes even pants and a shirt with a dress over top! This still gives her the ability to let her personal style shine through, As she grows out of clothes, I make a new board. Once I organized the clothes pictures on to the boards, I printed everything out, cut them down a little bit, and laminated everything. We keep them on small magnetic whiteboards in her room outside of her closet so she can see them all of the time.
When we first started using these, we actually used it like a bingo board. She was having a hard time with wanting to wear the same thing over and over again, and I didn't have enough time to get things washed. We would cover up anything she had already worn. This helped her differentiate between something that was clean versus something that was dirty. If she started to not like a piece of clothing for whatever reason, I would remake the choice board and take that item or items off of it, so it wasn't even an option.
After a bunch of people asked me about this, I created a digital download with different color versions of this. In the download, I have lots of different options for categories and teach you step-by-step how to make your own. Having a choice board has been a game changer for us. While it initially does take a little bit of work, it's been so helpful in making our mornings run smoother which makes Jackie a much happier girl. You can find the download in my shop under choice boards and everything else you will need is linked below.
Simplifying Mornings with a Clothing Choice Board | Shop
