We got some old I Love Lucy DVD's and my 93 year old aunt loves them. She is in stage 4 to 5 AD. She sits and laughs and they really brighten her day. She watches them over and over and they are all new again when she gets them out after putting them away for a while. She also has enjoyed other DVD's involving subjects from her youth and early years, but can't follow much of a story. Dancing videos are good, as is Art Linkletter's Kids Say the Darndest Things. The I Love Lucy shows are her favorites.

My mother also loves Andy Griffith Show and we do too. She is in mod to late stage.

Dress up in a fancy dress and play the old familiar tunes they remember. Get up and dance together (if they are able) or sing along.
Talk about the old days. Don't ask questions, if you touch on something they remember, they will contribute, and not be embarrassed,
Scarves are also good to use, they will wave them or tie them around their heads, etc.

I love these ideas. I would love to see more. My mom was starting to talk to her stuffed animals and caressing them. But she often would hear a baby crying or see a small child and neither were really there. I bought her a life-like baby doll and she loves it. She sleeps with it and holds it. It seems to satisfy her nurturing desire. She always loved babies. I'd like to know of more ideas though. She doesn't have the concentration for T.V. anymore. I did notice that when she was in the hospital, she responded well to their music therapy.

When I play my mother's favorite music - it always puts her in a better mood. And I dance around (and I can't dance, so she thinks it is hysterical). Laughter is the best medicine! Anything you can do to make them laugh. I also bought my mother some puzzles. She had a really hard time doing a 10 piece puzzle at first, but now she does a 30 piece puzzle all by herself and she even does it without me telling her to do it. It takes her about 45 minutes but it is better then her staring at the TV.

Today I bought her some easy kid's card games and Connect Four (it is sort of a tic tac toe game).

Anytime I can get my mother to go outside for a couple of hours is also very helpful. I have to put her in a wheelchair because she cannot walk very fast or very long. But she looks forward to going out. Anybody would get depressed staying home day after day. I tried taking her to an Alzheimer's Day Program, but the people there were much more advanced then her and she didn't like seeing that.

I also try and make my mother feel useful. I get her to help me cook, even if she just beats the eggs or set the table. They need to feel useful. I also get her to fold towels and socks.
Phyllis

Here's something I discovered, quite by accident, but one day when my MIL was visiting for the weekend (she's mid-level and deteriorating). There are less and less forms of communication that will hold her attention - altho she reads books all the time (how she does that and can stay with it is a mystery to me).

Anyhow, I had the TV on and was trying to find anything that would hold her attention. When I came across an old episode of America's Funniest Home Videos we tried that for a while -it was absolutely amazing. She laughed SO hard and for the entire hour. Since then, I've recorded episodes whenever I find it on and I can play and re-play those for her until she literally wears herself out laughing. I think it's a real basic, visceral response to slapstick that does it. AND it puts her in a great mood!!

Also, I recently found she likes Deal or No Deal. I discovered she has no idea how the game is being played. She see's all the $$ up on the board and she thinks the contestant is winning lots and lots of money with and all the cheering and activity - she just gets lost in the excitement.

I also have these DVD's for my husband. I found that anything longer than 30 mins gets too hard to follow. Also the English comedies are too difficult to follow because of the language. Music of his era are great! He also likes Huell Howser as he can remember going to many of the places shown.

My Italian mom loves the old Lawrence Welk Shows, especially the Italian one! What a life saver that show is for our family! My mom loves to fold clothes too. Anything that keeps her busy helps.

My Mom loves the old musicals......Oklahoma, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof. I bought her a bunch of DVD's. I'm now going to get Toy Story and Finding Nemo, I think she'll love them. She also loves those funniest video shows, even though the announcer is so bad at trying to be funny (I cringe), she thinks he's funny! Think I'll order some of them, too.
Check Ebay or Amazon.com for DVDs, also the library! Also, we go to lots of free or cheap concerts in town.......the Symphony, the local concert band, High School bands, etc. I enjoy them, too!

Thanks for all the great ideas.

Laurel and Hardy day came up a couple of weeks ago, and Mom laughed all day long. It was the most I've seen her laugh in a long time, thanks for the hint about buying them on E-bay or Amazon.

I love it when she laughs...

Felicia

Thanks for the ideas, my dad takes care of my mom and he's only 66 and very active still, but with my mom and her dementia he's having a hard time finding things they can enjoy together. They love Laurel and Hardy and have several VHS copies tucked away at their vacation home so I told my dad he should take them out for her to watch when he's busy working on stuff around the house.

I also went to the Dollar Tree and bought her some Kids Puzzles. They are easy 25-50 piece puzzles. I had got her 100-500 ones before, but they became too difficult for her to do and she would get frustrated and walk off, but now these 3+ and 5+ puzzles she really enjoys doing and they keep her busy for a little while. It's just nice to see her working on something instead of wandering around aimlessly.

Hi yall,
Mom's finally settling in the AL but she's bored and they really don't do any planned activities. Sigh. A couple of weeks back my 17 year old son took his acoustic guitar and just sat and played for an hour for the folks. The transformation from a roomfull of zombies to an appreciative audience made me cry. Tristan played quiet versions of Led Zeppelin, Beatles, you name it. When he ran out of tunes, 100 year old wheelchair-bound Rose raised her crooked little hand and croaked out "Play another song!!" So he went through the lineup again. It was great. Probably the most appreciative audience he'll ever play for.
Best to you all,
Anita

My mom is in stage 4 to 5 and in a care home. She has lost her ability to visually process, so she is basically blind, which limits her ability to participate in activities. My dad and I have read to her and play cd's for her. My sister, who is a preschool teacher, made a cd of kid's songs and some other favorites of my moms and bought her a couple of maraca typed rattles to shake along. She enjoys singing along
and shaking her maracha's. I would think that a xylophone or tamborine would be fun, too. If any one has any other ideas for someone who is visually impaired, I would appreciate it!

great that you are appealing to her sence of sound. now go for some lovely favorite aromas..fragrances flowers, baked goods. don't forget tactile. thouching and smelling landscape plants and statues. take her looking for christmas trees and caroling. just thots

Some things I do with my Gram: [1] Old movies, tv shows, and music are always good. Gram really loves the music station from Comcast Digital Cable. There's a cable channel that plays old standards and big band while displaying interestig facts and trivia about the song/singer that's playing. I've found this invaluble because of the ease of it and the variety. I didn't have to go out and find all those tunes. And if she'd rather hear classical or oldies or holiday music on a given day, all I have to do is change to another channel. [2] She also likes to watch stand-up comedians. There's no story to follow and as long as the comic isn't too topical (or vulgar) she gets to laugh for an hour. You can even find some of the old classic comics on DVD now. [3] To cut the boredom on slower days she likes to catalog shop. She looks through a JCPenny catalog and makes a list of the things she'd like to buy the next time she goes shopping. (Even though she already owns a lot of them.) I just sneak her list away at the end of the day. Then another day she can go through the catalog again and make another list. (It's actually really interesting to watch how her taste and preferences change from day to day.) [4] Old Radio. There are several internet radio stations (many that are free) that cast old time radio programs. These were a big hit. The BBC Radio website's 'Listen Again' feature has many programs that are contemporary, but short and easy to follow. (I like to listen to those with her if I can. She loses track of time more easily and drasticly when she only hears old tv, music, and radio for too long.) [5, as a side note] Along the same lines as America's Funniest Vids,' I was completely amazed at how much my Gram now enjoys a show called 'Ninja Warrior.' It's a Japanese show that's just people either defeating or utterly failing a series of obstacle courses. It's on G4 and, despite the fact that she can't really keep up with the subtitles, the show can tickle Gram pink for over an hour.

My Mom loves the I Love Lucy shows, Golden Girls, the Cosby Show, Andy Griffith, Gunsmoke and Bonanza. The TVland Channel is on most of the time during the day. Between laughing and letting the "good guys" know that the bad guys are hiding is so cute. Of course, Lawrence Welk is a favorite also. She comments on whether or not she thinks some of the performers are gaining weight or losing it. I just agree to whatever the comment is at the time.

Mom used to do the puzzles also. We had the 300 piece ones because the pieces were larger and she loved solitaire card game. Now, unfortunately, she can't do it. Occasionally she can comment on what goes where but not much anymore.

thinking about taking mom on liesurely stroll through an antique mall. might be fun...with all those tshatskies and stuff from the 30s 40s 50s and 60s, ..i.e., howdy dowdy stuff, old mixmasters, clothes, chair hair dryers, aprons, old neckties, old movie posters..hope it works

quote:

Originally posted by A Brighter Day's A-comin!:
Hi yall,
Mom's finally settling in the AL but she's bored and they really don't do any planned activities. Sigh. A couple of weeks back my 17 year old son took his acoustic guitar and just sat and played for an hour for the folks. The transformation from a roomfull of zombies to an appreciative audience made me cry. Tristan played quiet versions of Led Zeppelin, Beatles, you name it. When he ran out of tunes, 100 year old wheelchair-bound Rose raised her crooked little hand and croaked out "Play another song!!" So he went through the lineup again. It was great. Probably the most appreciative audience he'll ever play for.
Best to you all,
Anita

I think it is really neat that your son played for them.You must be proud of what a caring young man he has become!!! My 17 is learning to play the guitar, he has found that the ducks at the lake like his playing, maybe one day he will move up.

Well, here are some new discoveries as my MIL has progressed with her AD. Her hearing has been bad for a long time, but even with her hearing aids, it's much worse and her comprehension continues to deteriorate also. So...I can't rely on her hearing the audio - so after discovering the Planet Earth series, and some other Discovery channel high definition nature shows - she just gets totally absorbed in flying over the ocean and the bears catching the salmon close-up and the baby deer romping thru the meadows with all the colors, etc. Besides that - they're SO well done and interesting - everybody can sit and watch with her. Her main comments when she just can't believe how amazing something looks is - "That's the most amazing photography"!

Anyhow - when I find something I can record, I do for when she comes to stay over with us - and I can just re-play them over and over again - she can't remember she just watched it!

Also, browsing thru an Antique Mall is also a good outing - it gets her moving and walking a bit - and she really is fascinated by items familiar from her past - and how she used to have something "just like that!" The main problem is that she wants to buy all these things - so that takes some strategy to get her off that track.

If I can get her to a concentrated-type park (like a downtown square) area with a lot of families, especially infants and toddlers - I can sit with her on the park bench and she can get involved people watching and very involved in watching the little kids. It's a "safe" involvement for her. She doesn't have to be social or worry about mingling with people she doesn't know and not knowing what to say or do.

In the yard - during good weather - she'll gladly be put to work dead-heading flowers, pulling weeds, making things neat and organized. There are so few things she can do and feel useful about - this is one of those "folding clothes" type activities.

My father is 82....I found "AMERICAS FUNNIEST VIDEOS", "MAN VS WILD", MADEA MOVIES, and others to be things he just cracks up over. Things that are funny, or gross like the Man vs Wild...would make him laugh. I sit there and almost get sick when the guy is eating grubs with the guts shooting out....while my dad is sitting there laughing at ME!!! I will interact with him saying "have you ever ate one of those when you were in the military?" "Would you ever eat one?" and he just sits there laughing and saying NO WAY while laughing.

Another thing my husband does with him while we are in a store...he tells my dad "I think she should just pick one and put it in the basket instead of looking at it for so long"...my dad just laughs...and if I see a friend in the store...my husband and my father laugh becuz I talk to much...teasing me constantly! Get this...my father is in the late stages/severe of AD. Changing his meds and removing some that gave him bad side effects helped too. Pain meds for his severe arthritis helped a GREAT deal.

HUMOR is a great medicine!

Julie