Services / Self-Care & Daily Living Skills
Self-Care & Daily Living Skills
Toileting, sleep, eating, dressing, tooth-brushing: the 'small' routines that consume entire family days. These skills respond remarkably well to a structured, assent-based approach that breaks them into steps your child can win at, without force, tears, or three-hour standoffs.
This is for you if…
Parents stuck on a specific daily battle: the child who is 6 and not toilet trained, the 9pm-to-1am bedtime, the diet of five beige foods.
- Toilet training has stalled for months or years
- Bedtime takes hours, or your child wakes through the night
- Mealtimes are a battlefield and the food list keeps shrinking
- Hair washing, nail trimming, or tooth-brushing end in meltdowns
What we work on together
Toilet training that finally moves
A stalled toilet-training journey usually needs a different plan, not more pressure. Jess builds a step-by-step approach around your child's readiness signals, sensory profile, and pace, including for children who have been 'stuck' for years.
Sleep that the whole family gets
Evening routines, falling asleep independently, night wakings, and early rising: addressed with gradual, evidence-based steps that do not require leaving your child to cry it out.
Mealtimes without the battle
Extreme picky eating often has sensory and anxiety roots. We expand foods gradually, from a foundation of safety, so eating stays positive while the list grows.
Dressing, hygiene, and the rest
Dressing, bathing, tooth-brushing, haircuts, and nail care, task-analyzed into small steps and taught with your child's assent, so care routines stop being daily combat.
How it works
- Free discovery call
Name the routine that is costing your family the most; Jess will tell you what a plan would look like.
- Get the step-by-step plan
Each skill is broken into small, winnable steps matched to your child's current abilities and sensory needs.
- Implement with coaching
You run the plan at home with Jess adjusting alongside you, because toilet training week two never goes exactly like the plan said.
Prefer to start self-paced? Calm the Chaos Toolkit E-book teaches the same approach: your step-by-step playbook for calmer days at home.
Get the toolkitCommon questions
My autistic child is 6 and not toilet trained. Is it too late?
No, it is not too late, and you are far from alone. Many autistic children toilet train later and need a more structured, individualized approach than typical advice assumes. With a plan built around your child's readiness signals, sensory needs, and pace, most children make real progress, including children who have been stuck for a long time.
Will you tell us to let our child cry it out for sleep?
No. Cry-it-out conflicts with a trauma-informed, assent-based approach and is especially inappropriate for children who struggle to communicate. Sleep plans here work gradually: shaping the routine, the environment, and independent-sleep skills step by step, while your child stays feeling safe.
Is extreme picky eating just a phase?
For many autistic children, no. Severely restricted eating usually has sensory and anxiety roots and tends to persist, or narrow further, without support. The good news: gradual, pressure-free food expansion works. Forcing bites does not, and usually shrinks the list.
What Families Say
From the beginning, Jess was kind, thoughtful, and patient, and she quickly developed a strong rapport with our daughter. … We would highly recommend Jess to other families looking for a compassionate and effective therapist.
David MWe had Jess working with us to help out with behavioural therapy for several months and it was fantastic! … We saw so much progress working with Jess and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her services.
Nicholas RanicarI love love love the flexible and fixed strategy learning. We have been working hard on changes this week. … We have made huge gains.
C.R.
Talk to Jess about self-care & daily living
A free 45-minute conversation about your child, no pressure and no obligation. If this service is not the right fit, Jess will say so and point you to what is.
Book your free discovery call