Children and adults with disabilities typically require a lot of REPETITION to learn concepts and motor skills and they need to practice these skills in a variety of situations and settings to generalize the skills.
The following videos demonstrate adaptations that help learn how to manipulate buttons, zippers and buckles. These strategies are effective because:
1) Materials are extra large to make learning easier
2) The manipulations do not need to occur while one is in a hurry to dress and go somewhere. The learner can take his or her time and more easily see what the hands are doing. In addition, the learners may not view themselves as struggling to dress but rather learning repetitive hand skill and this is good for self-esteem.
3) All of these activities develop skills to use hands together and eye-hand coordination. These skills may carryover into other areas in the person's life, even if they don't learn how to manipulate fasteners at first.
It is easy to add slight variations and sensory stimulations such as:
- Open containers with fasteners so that the object removed is desirable and fun, maybe a squishy ball, fidget spinner or motorized toy.
- Add cognitive challenges such as color matching
- Use materials that can be pushed or pulled for proprioceptive sensory stimulation
Source: Fun Activities that Develop Buttoning Skills by RecyclingOT on Rumble
Source: How to Teach Zipping Skills by RecyclingOT on Rumble
Source: Sensory Buttoning Board by RecyclingOT