Assessing for Activities

It seems to me like a long time since the last posting. Besides a trip again to North Carolina and Thanksgiving, I lost another dear 93 year old friend. This time, it was a woman whom I grew to cherish over the time I worked with her.
She was such a lady in so many ways. She had her hair done each week and loved to dress so that she looked coordinated and pretty each day. Not only did she enjoy wearing jewelry but she also enjoyed beading to sell, to give away and to match her outfits. Loving to shop, there were many things that she collected over the years that held great stories to be shared. I think what I will miss the most is the bond we developed. Just being in the presence of the other would bring about a feeling of affirmation, love and admiration that each of us acknowledged. It is wonderful to know that her spirit is as close as my heart, because she will remain with me always in treasured memories.
This leads me into a discussion about the importance of getting to know someone in order to engage them in any activity. If the person has dementia, it is even more important to look at their skill level, their current abilities, any past interests and involvement and find out what makes them smile,
I talk about these in a very short 3 minute video of best practices that we developed for the Brainy Day Activity Program: http://www.youtube.com/user/BrainyDayActivities.
When working with our activity program or any other product in the marketplace, it is important to get the history of the person whenever you can. Ask the person whenever possible but for those questions they can no longer answer, involve family and friends. If there are no outside sources for the information, then using a trial and error method is an alternative solution.
Some of the questions that help in determining if an activity that would work well:

1.What did you do for a living?
2.What did you like to do for fun?
3.What time of day do you have the most energy?
4.Do you prefer to do things alone or with a group?
5.What is your favorite holiday?
6.What is your favorite song?
7.Have you ever traveled? Where?
8.What faith practices do you follow?
9.Do you enjoy children? What ages?
10.Do you enjoy pets? Did you have any pets?
11. What are you most proud of?
12. What is your greatest accomplishment?
13. What was your favorite subject in school?
14. Did you ever volunteer?
15. Who is you closest friend?

Once you have some or all of these answers, then the next step is to look at the responses and see what kind of possibilities it creates For instance, if the person was a math teacher of second graders, contact a cub scout or brownie troop and play a game with flash cards and numbers. If their greatest achievement was winning a golf tournament then get a golf magazine, or some indoor putting green or write down the story of the accomplishment and then type and print it in large font from the computer to read.
Use the information to say something meaningful to the person each time you see them. Develop that relationship. If they were most proud of their marriage or children, write down the story and type it in large font for them to have. If the paper can be laminated it will prevent ruining the paper if spills occur,

The rewards for taking the time to get to know a person through their history are so great. No matter how extensive the dementia may be, or even if there is no dementia, everyone loves to be recognized. And it is through this time of personalization that friendships form and everlasting bonds are created.

Create some lasting ones.

Mary Ann