Engaging with people living with dementia involves six ways to improve their quality of life. These include reminiscence activities, baking, painting, coloring, taking a walk, getting techy for a better visit, making it about their favorite things, and staying flexible. Simple board games can keep brain cells active and encourage problem-solving and social interaction. Offering activities that are physical, mental, social, and creative can help improve wellbeing and make the experience more enjoyable.
Caregivers should find a convenient time and place that works for both parties. Activities should focus on the senses, such as sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Playing music, having objects to touch and interact with, and hand massage can help people with dementia in later stages. Playlist for Life is a music and dementia charity that offers a dementia-friendly walking group.
Creativity can also be used to connect and engage with people living with dementia. Activities like singing and dancing groups, drama groups, book clubs, drawing, painting, and sculpting classes can help them express themselves. Creative engagement specialists Maurie Voisey-Barlin and Margaret Rolla discuss how to use creativity as a tool to connect and engage.
Family members may use strategies such as reminiscence activities, communication clearly and calmly, and engaging in one-on-one conversations in a quiet space with minimal distractions. Engaging in activities that involve puzzles, word games, picture books, arts and crafts, music, dancing, gardening, walking, and folding clothes can help people stay socially active and engaged. Carers should also consider keeping the person with dementia busy and engaged to ensure they have a fulfilling and enjoyable experience.
📹 HOW TO: Engage Persons With Dementia In Meaningful Activity
Kim has been working to help educate staff in a long-term care community so persons at all stage of dementia can enjoy their new …
How do you stop dementia from getting bored?
Play the person’s favorite music in different ways: the radio, a playlist, videos of concerts, school musicals, or religious programs. Plan a karaoke night with family or a singalong with the piano or guitar. Know what interests the person and look for ways to engage them. If the person loves dogs, look into pet therapy or arrange visits with friends and family who have dogs. Provide meaningful activities that build a feeling of purpose and self-worth. This could include helping with laundry, preparing meals, or sorting nuts and bolts. Keep a journal of which activities were most well received. Since loneliness and boredom often occur together, be sure there are frequent opportunities for socializing. If large groups overwhelm, ask friends and family to visit one or two at a time. Take time to reminisce. Use scrapbooks, photo albums, and home movies. Search the internet for news articles from a specific time period to talk about together. A companion from JFS Care is a great way to bring a fresh start to the day of someone with dementia. Our caregivers are skilled at boosting engagement and contentment for someone with dementia. A JFS Care caregiver will help your family member socialize while you take a break. We can help in many ways, including:
What are the signs dementia is getting worse?
People with late-stage dementia may have trouble speaking, understanding what others say, and doing everyday activities. They may also eat less and have trouble swallowing. What are the signs that a person with dementia is dying? Knowing when a person with dementia is nearing the end of their life helps with care. But it can be hard to know when. This uncertainty can affect how the person feels and how their loved ones feel. Signs of late-stage dementia. Some late-stage dementia symptoms suggest the person is near the end of their condition. These include:
What are the 5 R’s of dementia?
Stay calm. Don’t argue. … Respond to feelings. Validate how your loved one feels. Reassure. Tell your loved one they’re safe and cared for. Take a break to calm down.
Tips from Dementia Care Experts. As dementia progresses, your loved one may act differently. People with dementia often feel paranoid, have false ideas, get frustrated, get irritable, and feel anxious. These expressions can be very upsetting. It can feel like you’re losing someone you’ve known for a long time. When your loved one makes accusations, insists they hate food, or is sure their spouse is an impostor, don’t respond with logic. The 5 R’s are a tool for caregivers of people with dementia. The 5 R’s help caregivers cope with the emotional impact of dementia. The R’s. Stay calm. Don’t argue. Breathe before you act. Validate your loved one’s feelings. Tell your loved one they’re safe and cared for. Take a step back to calm down. When your loved one calms down, go back to the situation.
What are the 6 C’s in dementia care?
The 6 Cs make us a more cohesive and effective team. The 6 Cs mean different things in the care setting.
They help us improve care and teamwork with other professionals. We need each other and the residents to care for. Our nursing and care teams are the strength in the bridge from “good care” to “excellent care.” They are dedicated to getting it right. We are committed to excellence in care. Together with the 6Cs and an excellent care team, we can bridge the gap.
Care. Care is our business. Our standard of care defines us. We must provide high-quality, person-centered care. Our Care Communities must meet this standard. Our nursing and care teams are intelligent and professional, but most of all, they care.
What are the three golden rules of dementia?
SPECAL sense has three golden rules. Don’t ask direct questions. Listen to the person with dementia and learn from them. Don’t contradict. SPECAL sense is a set of principles that helps us understand dementia. Everyone who communicates with someone with dementia needs to use SPECAL sense. SPECAL sense has made his life better. That’s something I’ll never forget.
What are the four R’s of dementia care?
The 4 Rs: REASSURE, RECONSIDER, REDIRECT, and RELAX. Some general approaches can be used in many situations, even if the problem is specific.
As a sequel to their 2017 book Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory: BU neurologist Andrew Budson and BU neuropsychologist Maureen O’Connor have published a new book, Six Steps to Managing Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. A Guide for Families (Oxford University Press, 2021). On World Alzheimer’s Day, Tuesday, September 21, BU Today is publishing a short excerpt from their new book. (More than 55 million people worldwide have the disease, and as many as 139 million could have it by 2050.) Caring for someone is hard. It’s hard no matter who you’re caring for. Even if you had more time, it’s hard to manage dementia. Caring for a loved one with dementia can feel lonely. Many people know about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but not everyone knows what they mean or how they are related. As a neurologist and neuropsychologist, we have worked with many families struggling with dementia. We give them tips for talking to diffuse tense situations. We explain why their loved ones may have false memories, hallucinate, or think they have been replaced. We also help them deal with tremors, falls, wandering, agitation, aggression, and incontinence.
What is the number one trigger for dementia behavior?
Frequently Asked Questions. Q: What are the three types of behavioral triggers in dementia? A: People with dementia often have different kinds of behavioral triggers. Dementia aggression can still happen without warning. Three common types of behavioral triggers in dementia patients are confusion, pain, and a changing environment.
Q: What are three things to never do with your loved one with dementia? A: There are many things to avoid when engaging with a loved one with dementia. However, there are three things to avoid in most dementia cases. Don’t argue with or tell a dementia patient they’re wrong. Don’t ask them if they remember something. Don’t bring up upsetting or controversial topics.
Q: What Problems Do Dementia Patients Have? A: Dementia patients can have trouble with memory, confusion, depression, anxiety, paranoia, agitation, and personality changes. Dementia patients often change how they think, feel, speak, and act. This can make their lives worse.
How do you keep someone with dementia busy?
Music, objects to touch, and hand massages can help people with dementia. Playlist for Life is a charity for music and dementia. It shows how music with personal meaning helps people with dementia. You can find or make playlists.
Active Minds creates activities for people with dementia.
What should you not say to someone with dementia?
Don’t ask someone with dementia about the past. … I just told you that… Your brother died 10 years ago. What did you do this morning? Do you know me? 2. I just told you that. It’s hard to answer the same question over and over, especially when you’re trying to stay calm. But reminding the person you’ve already answered won’t help them remember next time. It’ll just remind them of their condition. This can be distressing. They may feel like they’re asking the question for the first time. The person may repeat themselves. They need to feel heard.
What makes dementia patients happy?
There are many ways to make positive life changes through all stages of dementia, including changes to daily routines, music and art projects, brain games, and exercise and outdoor activities. Try these activities to improve care and wellbeing. Improve your daily routine. One way to add activity to a person’s life is to add new tasks and activities to their daily routine. Here are 10 ways to add activity to your daily routine:
Visit somewhere you like.
Do daily activities like you used to.
Eat and sleep at the same times each day.
Talk about the past. Think about this: Reminiscing can help with depression, communication, self-esteem, and family history. Spend time sorting and organizing. Get a fish tank or aquarium. Consider this: A fish tank in a dining area can help people with dementia eat more and gain weight. Try pet therapy, adopt a pet, cook or bake together, use aromatherapy, and use community resources.
What not to do with a dementia patient?
Don’t reason, argue, confront, remind, question, or take it personally. You can’t control memory loss. People with dementia lose their memory. Asking them to remember is like asking a blind person to see. Asking if they took their pills or what they did today is like asking them to remember. This loss makes it hard to think. Don’t expect them to be reasonable. Don’t correct, contradict, blame, or insist. Reminders are often unkind. They tell you how disabled you are. People with dementia act and speak normally. If they were trying to annoy you, they’d have a different diagnosis. Forgive them. Your wife isn’t hiding your favorite shoes on purpose. She thinks she’s protecting them by putting them in a safe place, but then forgets.
How to make dementia patients happy?
Exercise, outdoor activities, games, music, and art help those with dementia or other cognitive disorders. We as caregivers often struggle to manage the emotional and behavioral toll dementia takes on the person for whom we care. Staying active and engaged is good for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Exercise, outdoor activities, games, music, and art help people with dementia or other cognitive disorders.
“We as caregivers often struggle to manage the emotional and behavioral toll dementia takes on the person for whom we care. People with dementia often feel depressed, isolated, and lonely. “This can lead to challenging behaviors like wandering, withdrawal, and agitation,” says Saran Craig, Senior Clinical Implementation Specialist at Careforth. “In my 25 years working with people with dementia, I have found that simple activities are one of the best therapies and tools for dementia caregivers!” Choose activities that suit the person you’re caring for. Everyone enjoys different things, so find the right activities for their personality and lifestyle. It’s important to understand how activities and engagement affect the quality of life and well-being of people with dementia.
📹 How To Talk To Someone With Dementia
Today’s video shares a simple tip to keep in mind whenever you are communicating with your loved one with dementia. It will help …
When he first got moved to memory care, my father-in-law not only escaped himself several times, he once managed to instigate a jailbreak of most of the facility’s residents. But later he came to believe he was staying in a hotel (we didn’t tell him that but I wish we had thought to) and he was very content to be there.
Thank you for everything you’ve provided to help me over the last 3 years. My father just passed, and it was a bout of pneumonia that seemed to lead to his quick decline. From onset, it was only 1 month before he passed. Providing any info about this potential quick decline would be helpful. I was prompted to find a nursing home, and then within a couple days he died. It was all overwhelming. What are the signs to look for? How can a remote careblazer do the best for their loved one when depending on others to guide them?
My Mom with severe final stage Dementia. Not eating or drinking much. We found & supplier who manufacture a balance plate of food with added vitamins, in a lot of flavors but in powder form, you just add milk or half milk half cream. She would refuse to take it, I would buy chocolate, Strawberry and the best Milktart. I will make “milkshake” with a waver & cream & colorful straw (found sprinkles make Mom cough) the milktart I will give in thicker consistency, warm it up a bit & tell her I made filling & this was the left over (she love being spoiled but always only eat half). Mom refuse to take pills. I hide it in a capsule that I give at night. I tell her it helps with blood circulation.
The favorite head nurse in our local aged care home “dances” (waltz) reluctant residents to the desired location. Bed. Meals. Showers. Seen on comments on YouTube articles, the staff, family etc need to “costume up” for convincing the reluctant person. Fun or meal, or bed times, etc. As an old very crippled person, yum yum food times are very motivating for me.
We are using this technique right now. Trying to get my mother-in-law to come live with us, we have started referring to our house as The Tuckahoe house and her house as the Franklinville House. The attempt is to remove the ownership label and make it general. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated 🙂
In the middle of making myself some eggs, I remembered I had leftovers to eat. So I finished making them and gave them to my husband. He had already had cereal for breakfast. It was likely that he would only eat some of the eggs for that reason alone. He would tell me he was full after just a few bites. When he told me he already ate breakfast, I told him this was not breakfast. This was lunch. It worked! He cleaned his plate.
My mother-in-law is resistant to eating because she is afraid she’ll get fat, and as a result she has very little energy, and she can’t understand why. I’ve found that she’s more accepting of eating or drinking things if they have a name with “energy” attached to it, or sometimes “protein” or “high-protein”. I buy a trail mix called “energy blend” at Dollar Tree that she loves and granola bars that have “protein” in large letters on the label. She doesn’t have a problem drinking Boost or Ensure but I could call it an energy drink if she did and I think that would solve the problem.
Loving Lie: I was able to get my mother to give up driving quite easily. My car had reached a point that it wasn’t worth putting more money into it. I told mom that I didn’t know what I was going to do. I couldn’t afford the transmission repairs, or to spend much on even a used car, a lie. She OFFERED to let me take over hers! Jointly, we agreed to add my name to the title and insurance, and I moved in with her a few months later. I let all family members and friends in on the plan and I sold my old Saturn 2 months later at a friend’s house. Added bonus: her insurance went down in price!
Any advice on How to handle the Significant other of the Dementia Patient? I find myself having no problem helping/communicating with the person that has Dementia, but while dealing with them their Significant other paces, tells me their Spouse doesn’t understand, asks Why are they doing that, becomes embarrassed, frustrated, and now I’m dealing with Two Residents instead of the One. I’ve seen this and I get it, A Lot. My Heart just aches. The era of, Commitment. Married 60+ years. It’s like the Left and the Right arm. The Right arm has this terrible disease, the left arm doesn’t understand and in trying to help, over compensates, unknowingly taking a toll on their own Health. They don’t understand what is happening to their Loved one. How do you help them through?
Thank you for your articles, very informative and useful information. My father recently started using adult diapers but the fact that he can’t make it to the restroom on time and is having to use the adult “diapers” has him feeling worthless. So, I remind him that the doctor said that as we get older we need help with certain things and that there is no shame in using the “paper” underwear. I can’t even bring myself to say diaper in front of him but “paper” underwear seems less shameful for him so I keep using that. I’m curious to find out what others have substituted for “diaper”. But the tough one is mom (both my parents have dementia…they do everything together..even this disease). Mom keeps thinking that the caregiver lady that helps us a couple days out of the week is flirting with my older brother. The lady is a much much older lady and is simply a very nice person who loves to talk to everyone and is super friendly. How do we get mom to change her mind about her. Or how do we switch things around? I’ve explained she is just friendly with EVERYONE but she keeps saying that if she doesn’t stop she is going to get rid of her.
What about helping someone who wants to keep helping reports on the computer, however, they can’t remember how to do them (basically they end up asking for help throughout the event), how could we help them do something without needing our full assistance or trying to prevent them from that activity? Thank you
So I’m helping with my ex boyfriend, helping his daughter because I was the one who called her to tell her he is in dementia at 73. I went thru this with my mom who just died this past Oct age 90. I also got my bachelor’s degree in Behavioral science. I live in the home with my ex, my own bedroom/ bathroom couldn’t find another affordable place. Anyway, I have thought it would help him to get out to a ‘daycare’ but he has always been introverted. Now he won’t read anymore (he was diagnosed this past Oct with dementia & visual spatial) so I’m not sure what to call the ‘daycare’. Any ideas other than the ones you already gave? By the way, I’m also taking care of my paraplegic son, his accident 4 yrs ago. I retired from my job Oct 2021, and more busy now with these two.
I put M&M’s on the table for any one of the following 1. she answers her phone when i call 2. she takes the chain off the door. 3. she looks at me and says hello 4. she puts in her hearing aids 5. she doesnt say some low blow insult out of the blue. 6. she stops cleaning litter boxes to take her meds. I cant say “good job”, or “heres your treat” that makes her mad.
What do you do when your loved one had a selfish streak to begin with and due to the pandemic, you uprooted your life, and it’s been 4 long years. Is it possible that they honestly don’t realize they are ultimately hurting themselves by not listening? Is it possible that some people with dementia respond only to tough love? Thank you for all that you do! ❤️
You are so wrong on these suggestions of how you talk to someone with dementia.. . I am from MN and in 2021 I built a custom hurricane proof ICF house in FL. My ex wife’s mother is near the lot I was going to build on so they wanted me to stay there in the large house- to watch over her (and pay rent since she’s my ex-mother-in law). .. I disagree with you coddling someone with dementia. . I would say things like you said not to. Yes there were sometimes bad feelings but I could not and should not back down when she was so very very wrong. . Such as when her water was shut off for non-payment. . I knew she accidently skipped a month in early 2021. So then she was always paying the payments one month late with a small penalty. . She kept arguing so I showed her the skipped month in her checkbook register. She didn’t understand and that led to the water being shut off. . I was very clear in how I explained the missed payment by writing each payment down on a sheet of paper with the date and dollar amount. . She still argued and that pissed me off. I and also the water department both said the same thing that she missed the May 2021 payment. . So clear to anyone but she argued and got mad at the water department and also me. . She was so irritating.
Can you PLEASE talk to ex-prez DRUMPH and all of his MAGA-MORE-ONS!? Kari Lake would be a good start. Then onto Gaetz, Greene, Boebert, DeSantis… and SO MANY MORE! Then do the same with Kenneth Copeland, Ken Ham, Joel Osteen, Kent Hovind and SO MANY MORE completely demented idjuts? Thank you SO much!
My Aunt is going through this now. What do you do when they think that people from TV is in the house with guns and they want to leave the house because of that? And they are scared to stay in their own home because they think people from TV are in the house with guns? What do you do, you can’t let them keep thinking that but how do you do it without hurting them. I don’t know what to do when she gets scared of her own home.