Tag Archives: Memory Care

Senior Care Professionals, The Family Caregiver

Montessori methods – beyond child’s play for dementia care

Leave a comment

automobile di latta a molla - setteMontessori’s education method for childhood learning was launched in the early 1900s by Maria Montessori.  It calls for free activity within a “prepared environment”, meaning an educational environment tailored to basic human characteristics, to the specific characteristics of children at different ages, and to the individual personalities of each child. The function of the environment is to help and allow the child to develop independence in all areas according to his or her inner psychological directives. In addition to offering access to the Montessori materials appropriate to the age of the children, the environment should exhibit the following characteristics:

  • An arrangement that facilitates movement and activity
  • Beauty and harmony
  • Cleanliness of environment
  • Construction in proportion to the child and her/his needs
  • Limitation of materials, so that only material that supports the child’s development is included
  • Nature in the classroom and outside of the classroom
  • Order

Thankfully, advances in the field of elder caregiving have moved activities beyond the three Bs (bingo, birthdays and Bible) to more resident centered engagement activities.  Culture change initiatives have definitely helped to push the creative buttons of activity, memory care and  resident engagement leaders to foster the understanding that every person has individual needs and capabilities and a one-size fits all approach simply doesn’t work.

Montessori is NOT a program but a philosophy  based on individualism.  Translating this to eldercare, the Montessori philosophy is neither difficult to understand and certainly not complicated or expensive to integrate.  A few key points to get started is to take time to:

  • Understand the elder’s interests and needs
  • Learn their current physical, social and emotional needs
  • Create opportunities for them to develop their capabilities
  • Encourage positive learning by keeping it simple
  • Develop positive communication skills (slow down, use eye contact, use skilled touch to engage)
  • Use humor and always smile – it will help relieve frustration and build trust between care partners

And lastly remember basic eldercare protocol:

  • Don’t use materials that are childish
  • Limit other stimuli while trying to engage in an activity.  ex: tv off is almost always going to lead to more successful engagement
  • Avoid at all costs, correcting someone but instead guide them gently as they attempt to accomplish a task.
  • Remember there is never a “right” or “wrong” way to do something

www.AGEucate.com

Aging in the Workplace, Senior Care Professionals, The Faith Community, The Family Caregiver

You Know What They Say About the Weather…Wait Five Minutes

Leave a comment

Dramatic Image of Scruffy Man Freezing in Cold Weather

At least that’s what they say here in Texas, when it’s 80 degrees one day, and hitting the freezing mark the same night.  We’ve barely had a winter to speak of this year, so my recent trip to experience the Boston blizzard was an adventure and a treat.  So what does the weather have to do with aging and dementia you ask?

Yikes –  I think it’s a great analogy!  Have you walked the floors of a Memory Care Community lately?  The sun is shining and people are happy.  But wait 5 minutes… maybe 5 seconds… and the weather  can all change.  The blizzard can move in quickly and chaos panic and disorder can soon be the order of the day.   Time for deep breathing and some quick meditation.    Person centered care… what’s that?!

I love the term  PERSON-CENTERED THINKING. That takes person-centered care to a whole new level.  To me, person-centered thinking implies that our first response, our actions, our thought process is focused on another’s well being.  When we have tools in our belt that allow us to respond to behavioral expression that look like rain, snow, blizzard or tornado – we’re ready.

Are we equipping our care partners in senior care with the right tools to weather the storms?  

I’m going to venture to guess that most of “us”, because we’re all in this together, could do a better job.  After all, there is always room to grow, right?  Innovation, creativity and the will to want to be better at what we do is a part of life.  We all want to be better equipped to weather the storms.

That blizzard that hit Boston a week ago was followed by a bright beautiful sunny day.  Everyone got back to work and life.   I was able to do what I had travelled there to do (training), flew home the next day….

…and the storm hit again!

For information on the University of Minnesota’s Person-Centered Thinking program:

http://rtc3.umn.edu/pctp/training/intro.asp

 

 

 

Senior Care Professionals

Memory Care: Events are forgotten, but feelings linger

1 Comment
Feelings linger in memory care
Feelings linger.

For people in memory care, emotions may outlast memory of the event that triggered the emotion. This is according to a study by Justin Feinstein. In other words, if a person with dementia has a happy experience, say from a family visit, he will continue to feel happy for a period of time even though he forgets the actual visit. The same goes for sad or angry feelings. Memory care professionals sometimes question if their efforts have a lasting effect. Insight from this study suggests that yes, they do.

Families often avoid visiting loved ones with dementia, assuming that the visit won’t be remembered. They ask, So what difference does it make?  If emotion lingers even after the memory is gone, then it might make a big difference.

While the elder may not remember the visit, pleasurable feelings it elicits live on even though the person can’t say why she feels good. This is important information for families. Their visits positively impact quality of life—the feelings of connection lives on! Anyone with a loved one with dementia, perhaps the most important thing is to show up and create positive moments. Step outside in the sunshine, share music, hold hands, look at flowers.  Activities don’t need to be elaborate. Anything that creates pleasure may make a lasting difference.

As Maya Angelo says, “They won’t remember what you said but they’ll remember how you made them feel.”

 

Senior Care Professionals, The Family Caregiver

Dementia Care: How to Make Magic Connections

Leave a comment

Dementia care magic-wandWhen visiting someone with dementia, be ready for anything. Things can change day- to- day, even moment- to- moment in dementia care. A little preparation can go a long way to help create a positive experience in dementia care. Have a “magic bag” ready that you can pull things out of that may reach through the dementia to the person inside.

The magic begins by interacting with all the senses. Though some senses may have diminished from effects of dementia, other senses may still be sharp. In previous posts, we suggested pictures or items to bring back memories. There’s memory magic in senses beyond just vision.

The key to creating magic is to learn what the person did in the past or what was happening in the era that they grew up in, and then recreate sensory experiences to evoke memories.

Sound magic is not limited to just music. You can find recorded sounds of just about anything online, especially on Youtube. Here are a few favorite examples.

Familiar sounds often help to recall memories and evoke emotions and stories are sure to follow.

Touch magic is made with texture of familiar things from a person’s life. Present different textures of things such as fruits, fabrics, sand, beans, string/yarn, seashells, leaves, doll babies, tools, engines, aprons. Explore with many objects to discover which ones bring comfort or trigger memories.

If your magic bag contains objects to see, hear and touch, you’ll be equipped to conjure special moments. Care partners become detectives as we look for pieces of life. Because you never know what that one thing will be that reaches a forgotten piece. The magic happens while taking the journey together.