Dressing & Clothing Suggestions

Organize the Clothes in sequence

 If your loved one is able to dress but gets confused with the order of the clothing,  puts on the pants before the underwear, trying putting the clothes out with the underwear on top and the clothes for the day on the bottom. 

Remove out of Season Clothing from the closet and drawers

To avoid augments remove all out of season clothing from the area where the client has access. 

Put clothes in the hamper when the client is not watching

To avoid wearing dirty clothes or the same clothes several days in a row, just place the dirty clothes in the hamper when the client is not watching.  Make sure to put clothes and shoes away at the end of the day to prevent dressing during the night.

Safety First – When possible have your loved one dress while sitting in a chair

Nothing worse than having Alzheimer’s disease or Dementia and a broken arm or hip.   To avoid falls encourage your loved one to sit in a chair while putting on his/her underpants, pants, socks and shoes. 

Gather all the clothing before you start with dressing

Often times it takes some preparation to get all of my mothers clothing and toilet articles together before we start dressing.  This preparation time is very helpful because then once she begins dressing we don’t have to stop and start.  Often times if you stop the activity in the middle of a sequence like dressing the Alzheimer's client will have difficulty completing the task. 

Minimize verbal directions and use pointing and touching to cue your love one to the body part or article clothing

 If you need to either supervise or provide some assistance to the Alzheimer's client for dressing try to give as little verbal instruction as possible.  If the person can be somewhat confused, they will become more confused and less able to process the verbal directions if they are anxious.   Try using or adding visual cues like pointing to the clothes.  An example would be holding out the sock and saying “sock”.   If they still do not seem to know where to start with the sock, you could lightly tap their foot and repeat “sock”. 

Tube Socks are wonderful

To avoid problems with the heel of the sock placement on the foot try using a tube sock.  They do not have a heel and are usually easy to put on because they stretch.   I have found tube socks for men but not for women.   If your female loved one has a small size I have used boy’s tube socks.  For a women with a larger foot, men’s work just fine.

Constantly buttoning and unbuttoning or removing a shirt

 Try using a pull over shirt or place the shirt backward so the buttons are down the back.

Elastic Waist Pants

Elastic waist pants tend to be comfortable and they make toileting easier for the client and caregiver. 

Go for a slightly Larger Size

It is easier to dress and undress if your clothing is slightly loose.  

Velcro Shoes

Try slip on or Velcro shoes for ease of putting on and taking off shoes