Good personal hygiene is a necessary life skill that can help one have positive self-esteem, and provide more opportunities in adulthood to get and maintain a job, and to lead a healthy life style. As children get older, and reach puberty, it is a good time to teach how to bathe/shower independently, with minimal prompting while keeping privacy and personal space in mind.

When teaching a new skill to increase independence, you may want to use a visual sequence. A visual sequence uses pictures (real photos, picture symbols, line drawings) to break down a task into smaller steps. By breaking down a skill into smaller steps, it can help teach the skill one step at a time.

Before making a visual sequence for bathing/showering, you would want to discuss the importance of having good hygiene, when to shower or bathe, and what areas are most important to clean (hair, under arms, private areas)

When making a visual sequence of an area where it will get wet, it is a good idea to have it laminated, and put in the shower stall/bath tub at eye level for the individual to follow. You may also want to make a copy of the visual sequence to review before having a bath/shower. An idea would be to create a book about bathing/showering with the same visuals used in the sequence.

Here is an example of a showering and bathing visual sequence.

Bathing/Showering Sequence

Showering Sequence