A wonderful article about using the Montessori method of education with people who are living with dementia. Check out the Association Montissori International AMI website for more information. LINK
You can find their video here: VIDEO
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Monday, November 30, 2020
Wendy Mitchell
A heartfelt blog by Wendy Mitchell who has Young Onset Dementia
"Which Me Am I Today?"
https://whichmeamitoday.wordpress.com/
Sunday, June 28, 2020
coffee breaks and tea time
coffee breaks and tea time
Dehydration can cause health problems.
Dehydration causes confusion, effects coordination, exacerbates dry skin. It can cause nausea, fainting, and dizziness. Dehydration can worsen constipation and cause headaches.
Dehydration is evidence by a decrease in urination and its dark color.
Dehydration happens not only in the heat of summer, it can happens in winter too. In winter the air is dryer, we don't have the "hot and thirsty" feelings, but we can still be dehydrated.
And worse it can compound the brainfog of dementia. Someone with dementia may not be able to recognize they are thirsty or have the ability to ask for a drink.
Instead of fighting the battle with dementia and your loved one "you must drink another glass of water", what if we develop the routine to have daily coffee breaks and tea time, morning and afternoon, pause and refresh.
Some elders have smaller appetites, so opportunities for more small meals is a good thing too. Stop and pause, the opportunity to have a little bite to eat at coffee or tea time.
More small meals is another way to get in a healthy snacks: cheese and fruit with crackers, or vegetables and humus, or fruit muffins, or mini meatballs, or fruit and yogurt parfait.
And your beverage doesn't have to be coffee or tea. Fruit or vegetable juice, ice tea, herb tea, popcycles, lemon-aid, fruit and yogurt frappe, milk shake, water, or seltzer.
Maybe this is time to sneak in that dose of fiber into a smoothie or nutritional supplement into a frappe.
Or maybe the tea time beverage can be the first course for dinner, a soup. A soup can be hot and hearty or a cold soup, chilled and refreshing.
I make a chilled cucumber soup in the summer, it contains broth and peach yogurt, blended with cucumbers and mint. My granddaughter calls it a cucumber smoothie - whatever you call it, it's delicious and nutritious.
Dehydration can cause health problems.
Dehydration causes confusion, effects coordination, exacerbates dry skin. It can cause nausea, fainting, and dizziness. Dehydration can worsen constipation and cause headaches.
Dehydration is evidence by a decrease in urination and its dark color.
Dehydration happens not only in the heat of summer, it can happens in winter too. In winter the air is dryer, we don't have the "hot and thirsty" feelings, but we can still be dehydrated.
And worse it can compound the brainfog of dementia. Someone with dementia may not be able to recognize they are thirsty or have the ability to ask for a drink.
Instead of fighting the battle with dementia and your loved one "you must drink another glass of water", what if we develop the routine to have daily coffee breaks and tea time, morning and afternoon, pause and refresh.
Some elders have smaller appetites, so opportunities for more small meals is a good thing too. Stop and pause, the opportunity to have a little bite to eat at coffee or tea time.
More small meals is another way to get in a healthy snacks: cheese and fruit with crackers, or vegetables and humus, or fruit muffins, or mini meatballs, or fruit and yogurt parfait.
And your beverage doesn't have to be coffee or tea. Fruit or vegetable juice, ice tea, herb tea, popcycles, lemon-aid, fruit and yogurt frappe, milk shake, water, or seltzer.
Maybe this is time to sneak in that dose of fiber into a smoothie or nutritional supplement into a frappe.
Or maybe the tea time beverage can be the first course for dinner, a soup. A soup can be hot and hearty or a cold soup, chilled and refreshing.
I make a chilled cucumber soup in the summer, it contains broth and peach yogurt, blended with cucumbers and mint. My granddaughter calls it a cucumber smoothie - whatever you call it, it's delicious and nutritious.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
smart devices
Hi dear readers, long time no post...
Today I was listening to NHPR "Here & Now" and an article by Robin Young about the Super Bowl LIV commercial for the Google Voice Assistant. An elder man was asking "Hey Google" to help him remember stuff about his wife Loretta. "Hey Google, remember Loretta hated my mustache."
I think one point of this news article was the question: are we letting Google (and other platforms) have too much of our personal information? But whether it's talking to our computer aided devices or typing into them directly, so much of our quirks and secrets are already out there. I remember searching online for patterns to make cloth diapers, for my soon-to-be grandchild. For months and months after that I was plagued with advertisements for diapers.
However my thoughts ran to a different question.
As my Mother's dementia grew she would purchase the same items over and over. Link She had eight bottles of molasses in her pantry. She would send the same birthday gifts to her granddaughters over and over. She would buy a birthday card every time she was in a store for whomever had the next birthday, her birthday card collection was huge. She was using computers for email and creating documents, but she never got into browsing the web, or shopping there.
In my dementia caregivers support group I heard of people with dementia who got quite out of hand with the HomeShoppingNetwork. Watching tv and purchasing another set of pots and pans for their daughter-in-law, because you know she would love new pots. Or purchasing another big cozy bathrobe because mine is old and ratty and this one looks so soft.
We have all heard the story about the parrot that was ordering treats from Amazon through a voice activated assistant. "Hey Siri - Polly wants more crackers."
I already have become use to just snapping off an order to Amazon for that big bag of cat food I can't purchase locally. It's all so convenient.
So my question is: as most of us are now quite use to using our highly connected computer aided devices for everything, how will those habits help or hurt us when dementia creeps in?
"Hey refrigerator, purchase OJ." "Purchase OJ" "Purchase OJ" "Purchase OJ."
"Hey thermostat, turn the heat up. Turn the heat up. Turn the heat up." When she really is sick with a fever and needs help.
"Hey Siri call the police I can't get up."
"Hey Alexa call the police there is a strange man in my house" who is really just his own reflection in a mirror.
Today I was listening to NHPR "Here & Now" and an article by Robin Young about the Super Bowl LIV commercial for the Google Voice Assistant. An elder man was asking "Hey Google" to help him remember stuff about his wife Loretta. "Hey Google, remember Loretta hated my mustache."
I think one point of this news article was the question: are we letting Google (and other platforms) have too much of our personal information? But whether it's talking to our computer aided devices or typing into them directly, so much of our quirks and secrets are already out there. I remember searching online for patterns to make cloth diapers, for my soon-to-be grandchild. For months and months after that I was plagued with advertisements for diapers.
However my thoughts ran to a different question.
As my Mother's dementia grew she would purchase the same items over and over. Link She had eight bottles of molasses in her pantry. She would send the same birthday gifts to her granddaughters over and over. She would buy a birthday card every time she was in a store for whomever had the next birthday, her birthday card collection was huge. She was using computers for email and creating documents, but she never got into browsing the web, or shopping there.
In my dementia caregivers support group I heard of people with dementia who got quite out of hand with the HomeShoppingNetwork. Watching tv and purchasing another set of pots and pans for their daughter-in-law, because you know she would love new pots. Or purchasing another big cozy bathrobe because mine is old and ratty and this one looks so soft.
We have all heard the story about the parrot that was ordering treats from Amazon through a voice activated assistant. "Hey Siri - Polly wants more crackers."
I already have become use to just snapping off an order to Amazon for that big bag of cat food I can't purchase locally. It's all so convenient.
So my question is: as most of us are now quite use to using our highly connected computer aided devices for everything, how will those habits help or hurt us when dementia creeps in?
"Hey refrigerator, purchase OJ." "Purchase OJ" "Purchase OJ" "Purchase OJ."
"Hey thermostat, turn the heat up. Turn the heat up. Turn the heat up." When she really is sick with a fever and needs help.
"Hey Siri call the police I can't get up."
"Hey Alexa call the police there is a strange man in my house" who is really just his own reflection in a mirror.
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