Toileting and Hygiene – Hand Washing

Judy Benz Duncan, Occupational Therapist

Provided by: TheraPlay4kids.com — Feel free to Share!

Continuing on with the series in helping your child learn self-help toileting skills is teaching good hand hygiene. While hand washing is great to do before eating, after eating a messy meal, or after some fun messy play, it is an important “last step” in the toileting process.

Whether at home, at school, at a friend’s, or when out to eat, it is important for your child to be able to feel at ease and comfortable with hand washing and drying.

The ability to perform these routine daily tasks are often taken for granted, and expected as a “normal” part of growing up. All these skills require the development, growth and learning involving very precise and complex neurological processes.

For neuro-typical children, the development of these skills takes place through normal patterns of development which are usually experienced through the everyday play and work of children.

For children with sensory integrative deficits, or children with developmental delays, routine developmental milestones can involve monumental challenges.

It is important that you provide the means for your child to reach the sink where they feel secure in the process.

Using a step-stool, or other sturdy step-up will let your child reach the faucet, be able to see into the sink, and allow them to help support their upper body on the vanity or sink edge in a safe manner.

Here are some activities you might want to try with your child:

☐ Make your sink area kid-friendly by using a sturdy foot stool in order to reach the sink and water easily

☐ Move needed items down to your child’s level (soap, towels, wipes)

☐ Depending on your child’s sensory needs, use unscented soaps, soft towels, check temperature of water is “good to go”

☐ Demonstrate and teach each step – let them see you turn the water on, wet hands, apply soap, wash, rinse, and then dry your hands – show and talk them through each step

☐ If one type of soap does not work, or if your child does not like a particular type of soap, try a different one – soap comes in foam, gel, a bar, liquid, scented, unscented, small personal size bars, textured bars of soap

☐ Colored and color-changing soaps (foamy, gels, pens) may turn the whole thing into a “fun” time for your child

☐ Help them as needed, letting them do as much as they can by themselves to help learn the process and details

☐ Using child-safe water-soluble markers or paints, make “dots” or “lines” on your child’s hands, and then have them wash them away – start with only one mark to see how your child is going to react!

☐ Have different types of “drying” items available – your child may do fine with a paper towel instead of a hand towel, or may want to even “shake their hands dry.” Go with their learning and tolerance levels!

☐ In public restrooms with hand dryers – you may want to carry a small wash cloth or soft disposable towels to avoid use of the hand dryer if this causes your child distress

☐ It may be impossible to completely avoid areas where hand dryers are in use, but giving your child the choice to use one or not is important

☐ Try singing a short song or telling a little story (only about 15 to 30 seconds long at most) to help your child understand how long you would like them to be washing their hands

☐ Give lots of praise for their efforts – even if it is only standing on a foot stool to look into the sink, or turning on/off the faucet – award all accomplishments with praise!

☐ Give lots and lots of opportunities throughout the day!

☐ Good luck! You are not alone! All of us had to go through toilet training long, long ago.

☐ Being able to complete the whole process of toilet training takes a long time – look for special moments you will remember and jokingly share with your child when they are all grown up!

This blog focused on developing hand washing skills.

There are many more areas to cover! Please share with credit to TheraPlay4Kids.com

The series on Toilet Training 101 continues!

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