Interested in more caregiving tips and support? Check out our Care Course for in-depth guidance and a supportive community. Click here to learn more: careblazers.com/for-families/
I’m a hairdresser, and I use a list of country music from TH-cam with my longtime client that has dementia. It helps her in staying calm throughout the haircut and when I’m done we go on and dance together, it’s a lot of fun and I feel that it’s a way of having some sort of connection with her. 💈✂️💃🏻💗
I'm so impressed by this. I'm having trouble finding someone to cut my mom's hair just because I've been so disappointed in how her last hairdresser was treating her. She was just so rude when my mom couldn't answer all her questions about when her hair was last cut and stuff like that. Bless you for making the effort to have a good relationship with your clients.
I used to take care of a lovely lady who was in the last stages of Alzheimer's. Her daughters started interviewing her years before when she was first diagnosed. They typed up those stories, put them in chronological order, then placed them in a binder for her caregivers to read. By the time I worked with her, she did not talk, but when I would relay a story from her binder, she would always squeeze my hand. It helped me as a caregiver to see her as a whole person, not just someone lying in bed who couldn't communicate. Additionally, this lady grew up in south Alabama where her dad owned a honky tonk bar (Hank Williams played there). Her daughters put the music she would have heard (30s and 40s) at the bar on an iPod. This sweet lady never talked, but she sang every word when she listened to her iPod 😃
My wife and I always liked to watch nature programs on TV. Just recently I realized how much she still enjoys it and we are able to have a conversation about it. It has become really difficult to have any kind of discussion with her so this has been really good for both of us.
My 85 year old Dad in mid stages of dementia is a Navy Veteran. Using Google street view we take walking tours of the places we’ve lived. He loves seeing our past homes & the places my parents traveled.
My mum is mow at the later stages of Alzheimers. I only play music from my mums youth( boy does she know the words to 100's of songs!!)and only cook food she was bought up with which is food we had as well as kids. I take her to church or do livestreams as she loves and knows all the chants of the orthodox liturgy. She also still remembers when we have to sit or stand during the service and even tells us off for not doing so lol!! Looking at old photos sometimes upsets her especially when she remembers that all those people have long gone. Horrible disease but we do what we have to do to keep her happy and at home with her family.
I discovered your channel a couple of years ago, and have been listening to get ideas about doing what I and my Mum can do for Dad who is in early stages of dementia. One of the things that was tricky was that Mum couldn't watch your TH-cams herself because Dad would always follow her into the study where the computer is. But recently she got very technically advanced hearing aids, and now she can watch your videos on her phone, while Dad is next to her watching TV, with the sound going directly from her phone to her hearing aids! He doesn't hear a thing and is none the wiser, and Mum is getting great help from you directly. THANKYOU SO MUCH.
Reminisce Therapy! Great idea. I tried this today. I was able to calm my mother and change focus. Thank you for the 5 simple suggestions. ✌🏼😎👍 Used your TH-cam suggestion and Alexa to play Doris Day Elvis etc. definitely improved the present moment.
Keep them coming, looking thru old slides is great for my dad! His grandson got his old projector going, and helped him to figure out how to use it! On another person in the nursing home, a dear friend, she was a proofreader and they would give her old books to underline in. Also she use to dance with her husband to "blue hawaii" and the caregiver had learned it on his guitar and after a little priming even though she was late stage alzheimer's, she would start singing, and we all joined in! Thank you to all the amazing care givers, professionals and friends and family for all the compassion you show these tender souls😊
My 85 year old father has moderate dementia. Lately I’ve bought foods like the fresh tropical fruit he use to have when he was growing up in Puerto Rico and he loved it. I will play old music from when he was growing up and he will start singing the songs even tho it’s been so long. I’m also putting together a book of pictures from how Puerto Rico looked when he was growing up. I really wanted to take him back to see his family one last time but he has dementia with agitation and don’t think he would do well with the change of scenery or when sundowning kicks in.
This gave me the idea to have a 60’s party, play my mom’s favorite songs, make some old favorite family recipes and we dress up in 60’s clothes. She’s not living entirely in the past yet but all her stories somehow relate to that time period in her life…maybe it would be fun to bring us into where she feels so comfortable.
Daddy responded to music the best. I played music anytime he wanted to listen to it. In the last year of his life he would talk about things from when he was younger and still living at home with his parents in Baltimore.
My mum really loves listening to older music. I always make sure she goes to the live music at her assisted living and I also accompany her at times. It's one of the only times I see her smiling and also tapping humming or even singing along!! My mom is British and so a few months back I brought her over to make a recipe of English marmalade that her mother used to make and she used to make the recipe has been handed down. I'm going to do it again very soon. She had such an enjoyable time. Sometimes it is difficult to get out of your rut and find those different activities that make a loved one with dementia brighten up. Thank you for your video and ideas💖
In Tony Bennett's last performance, he was able to recall all of our/his favorites despite his struggle with dementia. Lady Gaga was amazed and pleased it turned out to be one of his best performances. Unfortunately, he reverted to his debilitating state of mind right after the performance.
Recently, after Tony passed, someone close to him stated he had lost his short-term memory. Within our family circle, a relative who passed away in her mid-90s had similar symptoms but remembered her family and friends.
Music does have the ability to reopen old memories and even the ability to move around. I had a friend who was a music therapist and told me stories about that. It's very powerful. ❤
My Mother in law was in nursing home and for Xmas entertainment was a sing a long. My mother in law sang one of the songs. Wow. I was beside myself. Made me happy. One good time for me. I love your channel. Thank you💓
old photos or scrapbook This really worked with Mom. It brought her such joy. She loved looking through a book on JFK she had. She really related to that time too.
We hung as many pictures as we could find from my mom’s childhood through the house, particularly in her bedroom. We combed thrift stores for old magazines.
I am following you from italy - and provide to my father all the help he needs with my mom (both leave in Spain). Tour good tips and knoledges help all of us
Our Dad grew up in a small west Texas town and longs to go back. My sister had the great idea to subscribe to their bi-weekly newspaper. It comes through the mail and he enjoys reading about what’s going on there currently and occasionally sees a familiar name. Thanks for all your wonderful information!
I admire the compassion and respect that you show to others. I follow so i may learn how to treat people before i meet and recognize that the disease is present.
When my aunt had to go in the nursing home and I lived with mom .. My aunt had dementia and my mom didn't understand why her sister wouldn't acknowledge her so when I took mom to see her I introduced her as someone from the same place as my aunt and maybe they could talk about growing up there. It worked well. They talked about my aunt went to school with and this he they did. My aunt really perked up. You have to stay in their era and it helped the OT let us work on things with her, like rhinestones that stick on the small bay they were all making.
My mom can sing every single word to Chattanooga ChooChoo and she can remember every name of the kids who lived on the block she lived on as a kid not to mention all the stuff they did when playing together.
What a great reminder. I already used the album creation and working on photobooks will try "old foods" and then the other 3 methods and use them for distraction. Thank you for all you do.
Smells are really big to trigger memories with me. One time I opened a wooded cupboard with candles that had been stored in there and I was instantly transported to my grandmothers house! I'll have to think about smells and find out what my mother might remember from her past!
I found a bottle of the perfume Mom used daily in her younger years. The calming effect that took place in her autonomic nervous system was palpable. @@DementiaCareblazers
My lady isn’t interested in anything I try to do. I got the socks out and asked if she would help me sort them out. She just watched me do it. Coloring and 16 piece puzzles don’t work either anymore. So I file and paint her nails and lotion. Seems that’s all she likes. Pampered. No problem💕💕
Am going to work on #3. His Mom was a knitter and need to get her handiwork out of storage so we can enjoy the lovely pieces again. Thanks for your videos they are SO helpful. There are many stars in your crown!
The photo album was always a great deflection for me I just had to ask who’s this and she would sit quietly and go through the whole book sometimes the whole lot 😊
I use Sirrius on my car's radio. It has stations for various groups or entertainers, Beatles, Sinatra, etc. Also stations by decade. We have the 40s, 50's (Parents era), 60s, 70s (Our school years), 80s and 90s (More recent favorites). Another trick is we watch Old TV channels. 50s, 60s and so forth. She likes "The Rifleman" ~ hot for Chuck Connors?, Malcom in the Middle, Big Bang Theory, and Various Golden Age Movies and the like. We use the Sling App which has many older shows as well as a built in DVR. I scan the guide and record shows or series we will like.
A word of additional advice. I avoid current news as what is happening to our country and the world is quite upsetting to my wife. If we cannot change it, best to avoid it.
I bring my mom a newspaper from a fraternal organization that she belonged to since youth. It sometimes has news from the small town where she was born. It's one of the few things she reads. Unfortunately, since she is in her nineties, there is little about people she grew up with, but sometimes has information about their kids. I'm not sure how much, if anything, she retains, as her vocabulary has been shrinking.
Thank you for all of your videos. My brother with Alzheimer’s also has Down’s syndrome. I am going to use the music idea. Pictures are hit and miss depending upon the day. I have decided to compile cartoons from his early years; Flinstones, Popeye and his fave movie Annie. He picks up more on the visual if it is on his ipad. He doesn’t focus as well on the tv. Do you have any tips for someone like my brother? Down’s does put a spin on this journey. I’ve not been able to find anything that is related to Down’s. I appreciate your help.
Because music can have such a strong emotional reaction if the person who has dementia reacts negatively it may be that particular song brings back a memory that is negative. It could have been a song that reminds them of a breakup or a tragedy. Don’t give up with one song, try another one.
My wife has been confusing me with her first husband who was a philanderer. Going back in time for her has caused a lot of issues because she thinks I am him. One of her sitters her my wife vocalizing my (his) demise. I think this is a two edged sword. I’ve got to go back to childhood, and then she thinks I am her father.
We tried that, but it only brought up anxiety. She kept looking for her spouse.. who had passed. I don't really recommend bringing up the past. Just music or something not controversial.
We tried this and it made Mom's outbursts worse. My sister made a memory book. Now she constantly says she wants to go home (childhood) so we put it away
There is never one answer or one action that works every time. Ask her if you can go with her to her home. See if getting her talking about the home she is remembering helps the outbursts.
If there is elder abuse like not coming for 20 minutes to take the resident to the restroom while their spouse is even presently how will they treat the resident when no relative is around how often will they mistreat the resident
Just wanted to tell you that when I take my lady friend out to eat in the evenings, we always play an older easy, listening, music station, and she loves to sing along and can sing every word. The real reason that I am commenting is I have had tremendous success Reversing her symptoms by using Prevagen, professional strength, along with moringa, herbal supplement, taurine, herbal supplement, magnesium gluconate, and a zinc supplement. In the last four months, she has made a miraculous recovery back to period equal to about two years ago.. Should you have any questions? I would be glad to talk to you about them.
Interested in more caregiving tips and support? Check out our Care Course for in-depth guidance and a supportive community. Click here to learn more: careblazers.com/for-families/
I’m a hairdresser, and I use a list of country music from TH-cam with my longtime client that has dementia. It helps her in staying calm throughout the haircut and when I’m done we go on and dance together, it’s a lot of fun and I feel that it’s a way of having some sort of connection with her.
💈✂️💃🏻💗
Wonderful! Thank you for being such as compassionate hairdreser!
I'm so impressed by this. I'm having trouble finding someone to cut my mom's hair just because I've been so disappointed in how her last hairdresser was treating her. She was just so rude when my mom couldn't answer all her questions about when her hair was last cut and stuff like that. Bless you for making the effort to have a good relationship with your clients.
I used to take care of a lovely lady who was in the last stages of Alzheimer's. Her daughters started interviewing her years before when she was first diagnosed. They typed up those stories, put them in chronological order, then placed them in a binder for her caregivers to read. By the time I worked with her, she did not talk, but when I would relay a story from her binder, she would always squeeze my hand. It helped me as a caregiver to see her as a whole person, not just someone lying in bed who couldn't communicate. Additionally, this lady grew up in south Alabama where her dad owned a honky tonk bar (Hank Williams played there). Her daughters put the music she would have heard (30s and 40s) at the bar on an iPod. This sweet lady never talked, but she sang every word when she listened to her iPod 😃
My wife and I always liked to watch nature programs on TV. Just recently I realized how much she still enjoys it and we are able to have a conversation about it. It has become really difficult to have any kind of discussion with her so this has been really good for both of us.
My 85 year old Dad in mid stages of dementia is a Navy Veteran. Using Google street view we take walking tours of the places we’ve lived. He loves seeing our past homes & the places my parents traveled.
May GOD BLESS ALL of You Loving Caregivers. 🙏❤️
Ditto to you as I am sure you’re here cuz you’re one, too.
My mum is mow at the later stages of Alzheimers. I only play music from my mums youth( boy does she know the words to 100's of songs!!)and only cook food she was bought up with which is food we had as well as kids. I take her to church or do livestreams as she loves and knows all the chants of the orthodox liturgy. She also still remembers when we have to sit or stand during the service and even tells us off for not doing so lol!! Looking at old photos sometimes upsets her especially when she remembers that all those people have long gone. Horrible disease but we do what we have to do to keep her happy and at home with her family.
My mother is 93 and still loves Elvis!!
I discovered your channel a couple of years ago, and have been listening to get ideas about doing what I and my Mum can do for Dad who is in early stages of dementia. One of the things that was tricky was that Mum couldn't watch your TH-cams herself because Dad would always follow her into the study where the computer is. But recently she got very technically advanced hearing aids, and now she can watch your videos on her phone, while Dad is next to her watching TV, with the sound going directly from her phone to her hearing aids! He doesn't hear a thing and is none the wiser, and Mum is getting great help from you directly. THANKYOU SO MUCH.
Reminisce Therapy! Great idea. I tried this today. I was able to calm my mother and change focus. Thank you for the 5 simple suggestions. ✌🏼😎👍 Used your TH-cam suggestion and Alexa to play Doris Day Elvis etc. definitely improved the present moment.
LOVE that. Thanks for sharing!
Keep them coming, looking thru old slides is great for my dad! His grandson got his old projector going, and helped him to figure out how to use it! On another person in the nursing home, a dear friend, she was a proofreader and they would give her old books to underline in. Also she use to dance with her husband to "blue hawaii" and the caregiver had learned it on his guitar and after a little priming even though she was late stage alzheimer's, she would start singing, and we all joined in! Thank you to all the amazing care givers, professionals and friends and family for all the compassion you show these tender souls😊
My 85 year old father has moderate dementia. Lately I’ve bought foods like the fresh tropical fruit he use to have when he was growing up in Puerto Rico and he loved it. I will play old music from when he was growing up and he will start singing the songs even tho it’s been so long. I’m also putting together a book of pictures from how Puerto Rico looked when he was growing up. I really wanted to take him back to see his family one last time but he has dementia with agitation and don’t think he would do well with the change of scenery or when sundowning kicks in.
This gave me the idea to have a 60’s party, play my mom’s favorite songs, make some old favorite family recipes and we dress up in 60’s clothes. She’s not living entirely in the past yet but all her stories somehow relate to that time period in her life…maybe it would be fun to bring us into where she feels so comfortable.
Daddy responded to music the best. I played music anytime he wanted to listen to it. In the last year of his life he would talk about things from when he was younger and still living at home with his parents in Baltimore.
My mum really loves listening to older music. I always make sure she goes to the live music at her assisted living and I also accompany her at times. It's one of the only times I see her smiling and also tapping humming or even singing along!!
My mom is British and so a few months back I brought her over to make a recipe of English marmalade that her mother used to make and she used to make the recipe has been handed down. I'm going to do it again very soon. She had such an enjoyable time.
Sometimes it is difficult to get out of your rut and find those different activities that make a loved one with dementia brighten up. Thank you for your video and ideas💖
In Tony Bennett's last performance, he was able to recall all of our/his favorites despite his struggle with dementia. Lady Gaga was amazed and pleased it turned out to be one of his best performances. Unfortunately, he reverted to his debilitating state of mind right after the performance.
Recently, after Tony passed, someone close to him stated he had lost his short-term memory. Within our family circle, a relative who passed away in her mid-90s had similar symptoms but remembered her family and friends.
Music does have the ability to reopen old memories and even the ability to move around. I had a friend who was a music therapist and told me stories about that. It's very powerful. ❤
My Mother in law was in nursing home and for Xmas entertainment was a sing a long. My mother in law sang one of the songs. Wow. I was beside myself. Made me happy. One good time for me. I love your channel. Thank you💓
My husband likes music and he does remember something from the past.
old photos or scrapbook This really worked with Mom. It brought her such joy. She loved looking through a book on JFK she had. She really related to that time too.
We hung as many pictures as we could find from my mom’s childhood through the house, particularly in her bedroom.
We combed thrift stores for old magazines.
I am following you from italy - and provide to my father all the help he needs with my mom (both leave in Spain). Tour good tips and knoledges help all of us
oh I love this video so much! Moments of joy are so important and fun too :)🥰
Great ideas. I am currently trying some
Our Dad grew up in a small west Texas town and longs to go back. My sister had the great idea to subscribe to their bi-weekly newspaper. It comes through the mail and he enjoys reading about what’s going on there currently and occasionally sees a familiar name. Thanks for all your wonderful information!
GREAT idea! Thanks for the tip.
I admire the compassion and respect that you show to others. I follow so i may learn how to treat people before i meet and recognize that the disease is present.
When my aunt had to go in the nursing home and I lived with mom .. My aunt had dementia and my mom didn't understand why her sister wouldn't acknowledge her so when I took mom to see her I introduced her as someone from the same place as my aunt and maybe they could talk about growing up there. It worked well. They talked about my aunt went to school with and this he they did. My aunt really perked up. You have to stay in their era and it helped the OT let us work on things with her, like rhinestones that stick on the small bay they were all making.
LOVELY! What a wonderful and creative idea you had to make the visit much more enjoyable for all!
definitely the pictures and music! thank you
Thank you as always you give hope to make better days🥰
My mom can sing every single word to Chattanooga ChooChoo and she can remember every name of the kids who lived on the block she lived on as a kid not to mention all the stuff they did when playing together.
What a great reminder. I already used the album creation and working on photobooks will try "old foods" and then the other 3 methods and use them for distraction. Thank you for all you do.
This was a great reminder for me to help and enjoy visits with my parents who both have dementia ❤
Thanx for such great ideas!!! He used to make steak apizziola together... Im guna do that with him!
This is so spot on!
Smells are really big to trigger memories with me. One time I opened a wooded cupboard with candles that had been stored in there and I was instantly transported to my grandmothers house! I'll have to think about smells and find out what my mother might remember from her past!
YES!!! LOVE that one!
I found a bottle of the perfume Mom used daily in her younger years. The calming effect that took place in her autonomic nervous system was palpable. @@DementiaCareblazers
My lady isn’t interested in anything I try to do. I got the socks out and asked if she would help me sort them out. She just watched me do it. Coloring and 16 piece puzzles don’t work either anymore. So I file and paint her nails and lotion. Seems that’s all she likes. Pampered. No problem💕💕
Am going to work on #3. His Mom was a knitter and need to get her handiwork out of storage so we can enjoy the lovely pieces again.
Thanks for your videos they are SO helpful. There are many stars in your crown!
I Will adopt the you tube Song list at First and the album later
Thank you
The photo album was always a great deflection for me I just had to ask who’s this and she would sit quietly and go through the whole book sometimes the whole lot 😊
Thanks. I regularly sing to mom in the phone so she will (1.) have some familiarity with me and (2.) calm dow. Cheers.
Thank you Dr Natali . I what your video and sometimes I just have to get up from watching your video and I forget to push the like button 🙏🏼🙏🏼☺️
I use Sirrius on my car's radio. It has stations for various groups or entertainers, Beatles, Sinatra, etc. Also stations by decade. We have the 40s, 50's (Parents era), 60s, 70s (Our school years), 80s and 90s (More recent favorites). Another trick is we watch Old TV channels. 50s, 60s and so forth. She likes "The Rifleman" ~ hot for Chuck Connors?, Malcom in the Middle, Big Bang Theory, and Various Golden Age Movies and the like. We use the Sling App which has many older shows as well as a built in DVR. I scan the guide and record shows or series we will like.
A word of additional advice. I avoid current news as what is happening to our country and the world is quite upsetting to my wife. If we cannot change it, best to avoid it.
This is interesting.
I bring my mom a newspaper from a fraternal organization that she belonged to since youth. It sometimes has news from the small town where she was born. It's one of the few things she reads. Unfortunately, since she is in her nineties, there is little about people she grew up with, but sometimes has information about their kids. I'm not sure how much, if anything, she retains, as her vocabulary has been shrinking.
#1 and #5
Thank you for all of your videos. My brother with Alzheimer’s also has Down’s syndrome. I am going to use the music idea. Pictures are hit and miss depending upon the day. I have decided to compile cartoons from his early years; Flinstones, Popeye and his fave movie Annie. He picks up more on the visual if it is on his ipad. He doesn’t focus as well on the tv. Do you have any tips for someone like my brother? Down’s does put a spin on this journey. I’ve not been able to find anything that is related to Down’s. I appreciate your help.
Because music can have such a strong emotional reaction if the person who has dementia reacts negatively it may be that particular song brings back a memory that is negative. It could have been a song that reminds them of a breakup or a tragedy. Don’t give up with one song, try another one.
My wife has been confusing me with her first husband who was a philanderer. Going back in time for her has caused a lot of issues because she thinks I am him. One of her sitters her my wife vocalizing my (his) demise. I think this is a two edged sword. I’ve got to go back to childhood, and then she thinks I am her father.
We tried that, but it only brought up anxiety. She kept looking for her spouse.. who had passed. I don't really recommend bringing up the past. Just music or something not controversial.
Great content! Were the books and magazines effective?
My husband's senior yearbook is in our LR and he frequently is looking at it.
We tried this and it made Mom's outbursts worse. My sister made a memory book. Now she constantly says she wants to go home (childhood) so we put it away
I appreciate hearing this lived experience.
There is never one answer or one action that works every time. Ask her if you can go with her to her home. See if getting her talking about the home she is remembering helps the outbursts.
If there is elder abuse like not coming for 20 minutes to take the resident to the restroom while their spouse is even presently how will they treat the resident when no relative is around how often will they mistreat the resident
Just wanted to tell you that when I take my lady friend out to eat in the evenings, we always play an older easy, listening, music station, and she loves to sing along and can sing every word. The real reason that I am commenting is I have had tremendous success Reversing her symptoms by using Prevagen, professional strength, along with moringa, herbal supplement, taurine, herbal supplement, magnesium gluconate, and a zinc supplement. In the last four months, she has made a miraculous recovery back to period equal to about two years ago.. Should you have any questions? I would be glad to talk to you about them.
1 & 2
I might unsub and resub just so Miko gets more belly rubs 😊
A nubile, tight-bloused woman talking about terminal decline is a bit at odds with the atmosphere.