If you take care of a loved one with dementia, you have probably found it challenging at one time or another to get them to participate in activities. How you approach your loved one plays a significant role in the way they respond to you and how they participate in activities. Whether those activities are part of daily personal hygiene, recreation, fitness, or socialization with others, your approach can encourage engagement without a battle or the need to rely on medications that may have adverse effects. Here are seven specific ways you can promote engagement in activities as a caregiver:
1. Prepare the environment
Be sure your surroundings are comfortable and free of distractions. An environment that is not comfortable will add to the agitation a person with dementia may be experiencing.
In general:
· Make sure that there is no ambient background noise. A radio or television on in the background can make a person with dementia lose their already limited train of thought while doing an activity.
· Be sure the temperature of the room is comfortable. There are many older adults who feel cold even on the warmest of days.
· Make sure there is adequate lighting and materials are easy to see. Use a contrasting color on the table or work surface. If you are making a light colored puzzle, use a dark solid colored table cloth on the table’s surface.
· Set up the activity and familiarize yourself with it before you begin. If you are having your loved one take a shower, make sure the bathroom is warm and well lit. Ensure the area allows for privacy. Have shower supplies within reach. If you are doing a craft, have an understanding of the way the craft is supposed to progress before having the person you are caring for attempt the craft and you are both struggling through it.
2. Be inviting
Don’t boss a person with dementia around. Once you have prepared the environment, start the activity yourself and invite them to participate with you. If they say no, you may need to be creative and get them to engage in a passive fashion. Perhaps, to keep them engaged and interested you could ask them their opinion about the activity as you are doing it. For example, if you want your loved one to play cards and they say no, start playing solitaire in front of them and ask them if they notice any moves that will help you win.
3. Offer choices
Have a plan ‘B’ – be prepared to shift to another activity if they reject the first one you offer. Be sure that you are offering a choice of something they will want to pick from. A person with dementia who used to hunt and fish, may not like to choose between singing a song or playing cards. Perhaps watching a nature show or looking through a National Geographic magazine would be better choices to offer him. Remember to honor their choices without judgment.
4. Show don’t tell
Demonstration is a powerful tool. Use your actions more frequently than your words. If you do have to explain, use simple direct communication. Try not to correct a person with dementia and do not argue. When possible, sit on the person’s dominant side. You can also have them mirror your actions. This technique helps during meal times, and for brushing teeth or hair.
5. Adapt materials
Instead of using things as they are, adapt them for success. You can acquire adapted physical objects, like silverware or toothbrushes with larger handles if you need to. You can also adapt a game such as UNO by removing the “special” cards, or modifying the rules of the game to accommodate the person with dementia’s ability.
6. Break tasks down into smaller steps
Keep each step simple. Breaking down an activity allows the person with dementia to follow along and complete the more complicated end task. Start with the simplest form of the activity and gradually add difficulty to make the activity more complex. Continue to add difficulty as long as they remain successful.
7. Participation is the goal
A strategy to encourage participation is to do an activity where there is no winner or loser and no right or wrong way to complete an activity. Let the person with dementia complete an activity in their own time and in their own way.
Stay patient. Stay kind. Give love.
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