Dear Caregivers,
I hope you all have found some time to go outside and observe the fall foliage around you.
This week's caregiver tip of the week is all about creating tasks that are purposeful and engaging for your person with dementia. People with dementia fare better when they have mental, physical, or social activities to engage with. Activities that provide contentment will minimize a person's frequency of confusion. Confusion, in those with dementia, can often lead to more disruptive behaviors.
When meaningful activities and tasks are included into a routine, often we see a minimization of stress in both the caregiver and the person with dementia. It is very common for caregivers to feel overwhelmed at where to start when creating tasks for their person. Let's make this task easier by thinking about building an activity with the right Fit, Support, and Structure.
You can begin discovering activities that will provide contented involvement by discovering the right Fit for your person. An activity is the right Fit when the tasks required of the activity fit your person's ability and preferences. To begin ask yourself these questions.
- What did your person enjoy doing prior to their dementia?
- What hobbies or interests did they spend time doing?
- What daily tasks already exist that provide them your person with contentment? (For example, folding towels, unloading the dishwasher, taking the dog for a walk)
Once you've found an activity to try, you can move on to developing the Structure of the activity. Here are some things to consider when structuring your activity.
- How long will my person remain attentive to this task?
- Should my instructions be verbal or will I need visual or motion-based cues?
- How many steps of a task can my person do without prompting?
- Is their environment free of too many distractions?
The next component is determining what Support you and your person would need to achieve contented involvement through the activity you selected. When thinking about Support consider these questions.
- Can my person do this task independently, with check-ins, or constant supervision?
- Do I need someone to assist me while attempting this activity with my person?
- Are there external resources that could help make developing this activity easier?
- How can I gently guide and encourage my person throughout the activity?
This week I encourage you to see if you can put all the steps of Fit, Structure, and Support to develop an activity that you can try at home with your person. It is ok if the activity does not go as planned, you can use it to learn what to try differently.
As always, the COMPASS team is here for you and can help lead you in the right direction when developing activities to help your person stay calm and content.
Take Care,
Laura Dickol, LMSW
Savvy Caregiver Trainer and COMPASS Therapist
302-932-3299
ldickol@jfsdelaware.org
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