Brushing Teeth

There are so many self help skills that we need to teach a child. Brushing teeth is one important self help skill that a child should learn at a young age. The following method is one that we have tried and has shown tremendous results with our children.

 

Google Image

 

First and foremost check to see if your child can tolerate having a toothbrush in his mouth. If he is unable to tolerate having a toothbrush in his mouth he is not ready for the routine yet, but you can desensitize him to the toothbrush. How can we do this?

 

First prepare a social story about brushing teeth. For example:

 

Title     : Brushing  teeth

Pg 1    : This is John

Pg 2    : It is time to brush teeth

Pg 3    : John’s toothbrush

Pg 4    : John can open mouth

Pg 5    :Toothbrush will help John keep teeth clean

Pg 6    : Brush front, top, bottom, left, right and tongue.

Pg 7    : Wow! Look John’s teeth is so clean

Pg 8    : John gets a surprise for brushing teeth

Pg 8    : Well done John!

(Modify story accordingly to child’s your child’s need) or make a video according to the story.

Once you have prepared the story, read it to your child. Now we can slowly start to expose him to his toothbrush. Do not immediately put the tooth brush in his mouth but instead let him become comfortable with having his toothbrush around him. When he's comfortable, slowly start bringing the toothbrush closer to his mouth, for instance touching his lips, touching his teeth, then touching his teeth for a longer period of time with the toothbrush, then touching his teeth with a wet toothbrush and finally having the toothbrush with toothpaste touch his teeth. Don’t forget to reinforce your child for every step that he takes.

This may take some time but the result at the end is rewarding. Therefore be patient and enjoy the journey.

If your child is already comfortable with having a toothbrush in his mouth then he might be ready for the routine.

You will have to prepare a few visuals such as a social story, video model and a step by step visual of the routine.

The visual below shows some step by step visual of the brushing teeth routine.

Examples of visuals

 

Before starting the routine it is good to go through the whole routine with your child first and it would be useful if you could make a video of someone brushing their teeth the same way as the routine.

Do a backward chaining to teach your child the routine. This means you will do the whole routine with the child and he only does the last step himself. Once he can do that step independently then he will need to do the last two steps independently. And slowly move upwards through the routine.

It is best if you can practice this with your child in the bathroom.

Always remember to reinforce your child every time he does the routine successfully.

Have fun brushing teeth with your little sunshine!

Written by
Jessica Ganesha
Supervisor, EAP Malaysia