If your child finds dressing skills such as fastening buttons, pulling up zips and tying shoelaces unusually hard, the cause is often fine motor coordination, hand strength or motor planning rather than lack of effort. Practising in short, calm sessions and choosing easier clothing for busy mornings can help, and if difficulties persist, a professional assessment is the best next step. Support is available at Bloom Beyond Enabling in Al Jaddaf, Dubai, through our occupational therapy team.
Few things test a parent's patience like the school-morning rush in a busy Dubai home. Your child is standing in the hallway with a half-buttoned shirt, one shoe on, and rising frustration. Many families across Dubai and the wider UAE tell us the same story, and it is rarely about stubbornness. Getting dressed asks a child to combine hand strength, finger control, visual attention, body awareness and sequencing, all at once.
A button looks simple to an adult, but a child has to hold the fabric in one hand, pinch the button with the other, line it up with a small hole they often cannot see, and push it through. Zips need two hands working together in different ways. Shoelaces add a long sequence of steps that must be remembered and carried out in the right order.
Occupational therapists describe this as a blend of fine motor skills, bilateral coordination (using both hands together), motor planning and visual-motor integration. If one of these areas is still developing, dressing can feel exhausting for your child, and that tiredness often shows up as refusal, tears or rushing.
Children develop at different speeds, but many manage some dressing steps with help around the age of three, fasten larger buttons and zips at around four to five, and begin to tie laces somewhere between five and seven. These ages are general guides rather than deadlines, and a child who is a little behind is not necessarily struggling.
It is worth seeking advice if your child is well beyond these ranges and also avoids pencils, scissors or cutlery, seems clumsy compared with classmates, becomes very distressed by clothing, or tires quickly during hand tasks. For context, the DSM-5 reports that developmental coordination disorder, a condition that affects motor skills, is estimated to occur in around 5 to 6 per cent of school-aged children. Only a qualified professional can say whether this applies to your child.
Look for patterns rather than single bad mornings. Common signs include fingers that fumble even with large buttons, difficulty knowing which arm goes into which sleeve, putting clothes on back to front, and a strong preference for loose, elasticated clothing. Some children also dislike labels, seams or certain fabrics, which can point to sensory processing differences rather than motor ones.
If sensory sensitivities are part of the picture, our occupational therapy team can look at both the motor and the sensory sides of the difficulty together.
Start with play rather than mornings. Threading beads, squeezing playdough, using tweezers or pegs, and posting coins into a box all build the small hand muscles and finger control used in fastening clothes. Ten relaxed minutes a day is more helpful than a long, tense session.
Practise on a doll, a soft toy or a spare shirt laid on a table, where your child is not under time pressure. Use backward chaining: you do most of the task and let your child complete the final step, such as pulling the zip up the last few centimetres. Over time, hand over one more step at a time and celebrate each small gain.
On busy Dubai school mornings, use easier options such as Velcro shoes, pull-on trousers and larger buttons, then save the harder practice for weekends. Laying clothes out in the order they go on, or using a simple picture sequence on the wardrobe, can also reduce frustration. For children who find routines hard to follow, behaviour therapy can also help.
An occupational therapist will observe how your child moves, grips, plans and copes with different textures before setting goals. Sessions are usually play-based, with activities that strengthen hands, improve coordination and break dressing into small, achievable steps. Therapists also work with parents so that practice carries over into daily life.
Where emotions run high, for example when your child melts down at the thought of getting dressed, support from clinical psychology can help children manage frustration and build confidence. If dressing difficulties sit alongside delays in play or communication, our speech therapy team can contribute to a joined-up plan.
Most children can fasten large buttons at around four to five years old, although the range is wide. Small buttons on school shirts often take longer, so do not worry about a single milestone.
Not necessarily. Many typically developing children are not confident with laces until six or seven. It becomes more of a concern if it comes alongside other hand-skill, coordination or handwriting difficulties.
Yes, on rushed mornings that is perfectly fine. Just keep some calm practice time on other days, because independence grows through repeated, low-pressure attempts.
Yes. Itchy labels, tight sleeves or stiff fabrics can make dressing uncomfortable and lead to refusal. An occupational therapist can help work out whether sensory processing is playing a part.
Bloom Beyond Enabling offers occupational therapy for children at 601, 602 & 701 Al Nastaran Tower, Al Jaddaf Waterfront, Dubai. Our team can assess your child's hand skills, coordination and sensory needs and suggest a plan that fits family life.
If dressing is a daily struggle, you do not have to work it out alone. To arrange an assessment, call +971 4 554 5234 or +971 52 600 4107, email bloom@bloombeyond.me, or visit us at 601, 602 & 701 Al Nastaran Tower, Al Jaddaf Waterfront, Dubai.
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