Hello everyone! I have said in previous posts that I have difficulty with fine motor coordination. This makes many tasks difficult, including wearing bras. Those tiny hooks can feel impossible to fasten. Fortunately, there is a solution: the bralette .

A bralette  is kind of like a sports bra, except that where a sports bra is designed to holster your puppies while you exercise, a bralette  functions like a regular bra.  Like  regular bras, bralettes come in a variety of options. You can buy push-up bralettes, T-shirt bralettes, lacy bralettes-  even  strapless bralettes.

They sell bralettes  practically everywhere, due to their recent rise in popularity. Bralettes are the new fad. Aerie, the lingerie line by American Eagle, has a large selection. You can also find them at most department stores ( Macy’s, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Kohl’s, etc.). Victoria’s Secret’s sells them as well.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a below average bust size. I simply don’t know if a bralette would provide enough support for large breasts.I have also stopped wearing bralettes. About two or three months ago I switch to regular bras. I can fasten the clasps now.  But, I’m glad bralettes existed for the year two when I use them.

I truly hope that you have found this post helpful.

You may or may not know this, but fine motor skills are difficult for me. I have difficulty with buttons and zippers. This means that I can’t wear a lot of different types of clothing. One thing that I have trouble with is regular pants, like jeans. I can only really wear pants with elastic waistbands, such as sweatpants. Obviously, this limits wardrobe– Or so I thought.

UNIQLOIs a clothing brand, kind of like Forever 21.UNIQLO has a whole selection of  leggings that look like regular pants, but that actually have no zipper and a fake button. They called them legging pants. The selection includes jeggings, in a variety of colors, but also corduroys, among other types. The store also has work pants with an elastic waistband.

So basically, UNIQLO sells fake pants that look like real pants. I buy most of my pants from UNIQLO. I recommend them if you have the same motor difficulties that I do, But still want to wear regular looking pants.

One of my goals,  in creating this section of the site, is to provide a catalog of tools that have helped me achieve independence. My  hope is that other people, in similar situations, and occupational therapist with patients like myself, find this information helpful and can put it into practice. Most, if not all, of these tools were items I just happened to stumbled upon; no therapist told me about them. Often a friend or family member saw a problem and knew of a solution. That is what happened with my flosser.

At Craig, I wasn’t able to brush or floss my own teeth. So, either my father or my brother had to do it for me. My aunt found out, and suggested that they use a flosser instead of  cramming their hands into my mouth to floss the old-fashioned way.

A “flosser”  is basically a stick with a piece of floss suspended at one end. I use a flosser made by Reach. To find your own, look in the oral hygiene aisle of your local drugstore or Google “flosser.”

When I began brushing my own teeth, I continued to use the flosser because it allowed me to floss with only one hand. I still use my flosser today, and  I have found my it to be an essential tool in the bathroom.

Testing. Testing. Is this thing on?