Sunday, January 22, 2017

Bonus: From Adorable Photographs of Our Baby- A Colorful Activity

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Look at the baby photo to the right

Here is an exerpt from the book Adorable Photographs of Our Baby- a book for those with dementia and an excellent resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Our baby likes to look at bright, colorful toys when he wakes up.
Where is the baby?
If prompting is needed, say something like:
I think he is in his crib. Do you see him there?

What time do you think this baby wakes up in the morning?
If prompting is needed, say something like:
I think he wakes up at 6am. What do you think?
Have a discussion about the best time to get up. Also, talk about why babies get up so early.
Then ask: What time do you wake up in the morning?

What is the baby doing?
If prompting is needed, say something like:
I think he is looking at his toys. What do you think?

Let’s name some toys.
If prompting is needed, say something like:
Is a truck a toy? There are many toys that could be named.
You can have a discussion about which toys are for boys, girls, or both.
You could have some pictures of toys or even have toys for group members to see and touch.

What color toys do you see?
If prompting is needed, say something like:
I see a red toy. Do you? What other color toys do you see?

Color ideas--Let’s name some colors.
Let’s name some things that are usually blue (or any color). Continue as long as the interest lasts. Remember: give help as needed which may include giving a choice of two.
What is your favorite color?
What colors do you think [another participant who is shy or non-verbal] likes? I think[another participant]likes red because (s)he is wearing a red shirt today.

What happens if we mix two colors, like yellow and blue(or any combination of colors)? Mix colors as long as there is interest and time.
Let’s find out! [Leader should have paints and paper on hand and provide a demonstration or directions for the activity.]

Do you think this baby is having fun?
How can you tell? If prompting is needed, say something like:
I can tell because he is smiling. What do you think?
What does his smile tell you? If prompting is needed, say something like:
It tells me he is happy. What do you think?
What are some things that make you smile?

Other smile ideas-Have a smile off. See who can smile the longest. Sing songs about smiles. Read or make up a poem about smiles. Talk about other emotions and facial expressions. Remember, those with memory impairments can relate well to emotions. Draw faces with smiles or other facial expressions.

Friday, January 20, 2017

History & Meaning of the Mandala

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some Mandala art information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Many people and cultures have vouched for the mandala’s intrinsic meaning. Buddhists, Tibetans, and Hindus have all derived meaning from the mandala and its captivating beauty. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung has called it “a representation of the unconscious self.” The mandala is widely recognized as a meaningful reflection of its creator. Mandala art therapy & healing can be a great source of reflection on one’s soul.

Mandalas can be seen all around us, but are not just people-centric. They are larger than life. Mandalas represent life as we know it, but they also represent a larger ecosystem and universe that exceeds our consciousness.
The “circle with a center” pattern is the basic structure of creation that is reflected from the micro to the macro in the world as we know it. It is a pattern found in nature and is seen in biology, geology, chemistry, physics and astronomy.
On our planet, living things On our planet, living things are made of cells and each cell has a nucleus — all display circles with centers. The crystals that form ice, rocks, and mountains are made of atoms. Each atom is a mandala.

Within the Milky Way galaxy is our solar system and within our solar system, is Earth. Each is a mandala that is part of a larger mandala.
Flowers, the rings found in tree trunks and the spiraling outward and inward of a snail’s shell all reflect the primal mandala pattern. Wherever a center is found radiating outward and inward, there is wholeness–a mandala.
Source: http://www.mandalaproject.org/Index.html
This couldn’t have been explained more beautifully.

Mandalas are everywhere. They are the structures of our cells, our world, and our universe.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Mandala Art

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some Mandala art

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be















Monday, January 16, 2017

People with dementia may turn to art

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Scientists are doing research on people with Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders to help unravel how the brain works and why these people are interested in creating art. In increasing numbers, people with Alzheimer's disease are picking up paintbrushes or putting drawing pencils to paper. Some turn to art only after Alzheimer's disease has set in, and they may even be inspired by it. Both groups are helping researchers unravel the complicated and intertwined ways that biology produces creativity, including the contributions of inhibition, obsession and other personality traits. "There are virtually no situations where brain damage makes things better," says Anjan Chatterjee, a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , who is working on a book about art and the brain. But art is, he adds, one of the few complex aspects of human cognition that doesn't necessarily get worse.
"Think of a mobile where you have different weights that settle into some kind of equilibrium," he says. "If you take away certain weights, the whole system readjusts. In some instances, the art ends up being just as beautiful.
"In other cases, it's more beautiful."

Lester Potts had never picked up a paintbrush before his Alzheimer's diagnosis in 2001, at the age of 72. He had worked in a rural Alabama sawmill through the Great Depression. He served in the Korean War and grew into an even-keeled and dependable civic leader. But when his brain disorder struck, Potts lost the ability to take care of himself, and he sank into depression.
Painting with watercolors as part of a therapy program buoyed him, says his son, Daniel C. Potts. Even more surprising, his father had talent. When Lester brought home his first creation '" a bright purple and yellow hummingbird with green wings and a red head '" his wife asked him who gave him such a beautiful painting

As Lester's disease progressed, his paintings evolved too. And even though he lost the ability to talk or write before his death in 2007, his artwork continued to feature themes from his youth, offering comfort to his family and a fascinating look into the brain of someone with a degenerative and still-mysterious disease.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Colorful ideas for those with dementia

Activities directors and other healthcare professionals here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals.


Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be


Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two


Follow alzheimersideas on twitter



Color Activity Ideas related to the picture of the baby looking at toys on the right side of this blog

What color toys do you see?
If prompting is needed, say something like:
   I see a red toy. Do you? What other color toys do you see?

Color ideas--Let’s name some colors.
   Let’s name some things that are usually blue (or any color). Continue as long as the          interest lasts. Remember: give help as needed which may include giving a choice of two.
   What is your favorite color?
   What colors do you think [another participant who is shy or non-verbal] likes? I think[another participant]likes red because (s)he is wearing a red shirt today.        

What happens if we mix two colors, like yellow and blue(or any combination of colors)?  Mix colors as long as there is interest and time.
   Let’s find out! [Leader should have paints and paper on hand and provide a demonstration or directions for the activity.]  

Get more ideas related to this picture as well as other ideas related to other pictures, see Adorable Photographs of Our Baby

Monday, January 2, 2017

Flower discussion for those with dementia

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,


Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]


Get your subscription to Alzheimer's Care Guide Magazine 

Flower Week is Soon. Are you ready?

FLORA'S DIAL
containing A FLOWER DEDICATED TO EACH DAY IN THE YEAR

This is an enhanced listing of the index of the book
alphabetical by Flower Names A-D

Month Day
Flower Flower Meaning
A
September
14
Acacia
Platonic Love

September
16
Adonis
Sorrowful Recollections

March
25
Allspice
Languishing

April
8
Almond Tree
Indiscretion

January
4
Aloe
Grief

December
8
Althea
Dying for love

December
29
Amaranth
Immortality

February
22
Amaryllis
Pride

December
30
Ambrosia
Mutual Love

May
1
American Star-Wort
Welcome !

March
9
Anemone
Forsaken

July
11
Angelica
Inspiration

December
31
Apple Blossom
He prefers you

December
28
Arbor Vitæ
Unchanging Affection

December
27
Ash Tree
Grandeur

July
13
Asphodel
Unending Regret

October
19
Austrian Rose
Very Lovely



B
February
27
Bachelor's Button
Single Wretchedness

December
26
Balm of Gilead
relief

April
9
Balsam
Impatience

April
10
Barberry
Ill Temper

July
12
Basil
Hatred of the other sex

July
14
Bay
Fadeless Affection

December
23
Bear's Breach
Misery

April
11
Beech
Prosperity

July
15
Belladonna
Loneliness

July
16
Bell-Flower
Constancy

July
17
Bilberry
Treachery

April
12
Bindweed
Obstinacy

April
14
Birch
Meekness

July
18
Bittersweet
Truth

June
20
Black Mulberry
I shall not survive you

June
11
Black Poplar
Courage

September
30
Blue Bell
Solitude

August
18
Blue Periwinkle
Early Love

March
11
Blue Violet
Faithfulness

September
17
Box
Stoicism

July
19
Bramble
Weariness

April
26
Bridal Rose
Happy Love

April
27
Broken Straw
Trouble ! Trouble !

July
20
Bulrush
Independence

August
22
Bunch of Currants
You please all

August
1
Burgundy Rose
Simplicity

January
27
Burning Nettle
Cruelty

September
18
Buttercup
Ingratitude

August
16
Butterfly Orchis
Domestic Quiet



C
September
19
Cabbage
Self-willed

January
3
Cactus
Ardent Love

February
28
Calla
Magnificent Beauty

July
21
Canterbury-Bell
Constancy in Adversity

December
20
Cardinal Flower
Distinction

December
19
Carnation
Disdain

May
30
Carolina Rose
Love is dangerous

December
18
Cedar of Lebanon
Incorruptibility

July
22
Celandine
Joys to come

December
17
Chamomile
Love in Adversity

May
2
Chickweed
Will you meet me ?

April
15
China Aster
True yet

September
20
China Pink
Aversion

October
14
China Rose
Grace

December
25
Christmas Rose
Relieve my Anxiety

December
24
Chrysanthemum
Cheerfulness in adversity

April
13
Cinquefoil
The Dead

December
13
Citron
Estrangement

February
13
Clematis
Artfulness

December
11
Cockle
Absence

April
1
Columbine
Folly

October
31
Common Nettle
Cruelty

December
12
Coreander
Hidden merit

December
15
Coreopsis
Always cheerful

September
21
Corn
Quarrel

December
10
Coronella
You will succeed

September
22
Cowslip
Pensiveness

December
14
Coxcomb
Singularity

September
11
Cranberry
Cure for heart-ache

December
9
Creeper
Protection

September
24
Cresses
Roving

September
25
Crocus
I am his

April
16
Crocus Blossom
Youthful gladness

August
20
Crow-Foot
Brilliancy

July
5
Crown of Roses
Virtue

August
21
Cuckoo Plant
Ardor

February
11
Cypress
Mourning



D
August
23
Daffodil
Contentment

August
24
Dahlia
Elegance and Dignity

June
4
Daily Rose
A Smile

April
17
Daisy
I share your sentiments

August
2
Damask Rose
Bashful Love

September
27
Dandelion
Coquetry

November
24
Dark Geranium
Melancholy

January
10
Dead Leaves
My love has ended

October
13
Deep Red Rose
Shame

February
12
Dew Plant
Serenade

December
7
Diosma
Good for nothing

September
26
Dock
Shrewdness

July
9
Dog Rose
Pain and Pleasure

March
6
Dog's Bane
Deceit

June
2
Double Red Pink
Unchanging Love

December
6
Dragon Plant
You are near a snare

You can use this list to have great discussions about flowers in so many different ways