Another way to engage demenia folks

You as an activities director, other healthcare professional, or caregiver should read this
New York Times
IN a colorfully decorated room on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a half-dozen bright minds were engaged in a Montessori exercise called category-sorting. The categories were “dessert” and “non-dessert.” Pheona Yaw, who led the exercise, held up yellow cards with words on them.
“Carrots,” she said, reading from the first rectangular card. “Dessert or non-dessert?”

That was an easy one, the group agreed. “Not dessert,” they said. Ms. Yaw placed the card over a rectangular outline on the non-dessert side of the board.

She moved on.

“Strawberry shortcake,” she said, holding up the next card. “Dessert?”

“No, that’s not a dessert at all,” said Holly Kromer-Sharpe, decisively. Others disagreed. Ms. Yaw put the card aside and moved on to pizza, on which there was agreement: pizza was not a dessert. Then she returned to strawberry shortcake.

“Dessert or non-dessert?” she asked.

Holly Kromer-Sharpe again spoke first. “I think that’s a dessert, yeah,” she said, just as firmly, as if the question itself were an affront. “What’re you trying to do, anyway?”

In a typical Montessori....read the whole article

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