Reading, writing, coloring or arts and crafts they are all great outlets, time consuming and require a bit of thought as well as manual dexterity. Everything we do with Elda we do to help her with her dexterity and to strengthen her muscles. For us, keeping her body in form is fundamental to help what is left of her mind. It is important because the decreased use of hands and movement causes many other motor impairments, along with depression because of her lack of ability to do what she wants.

I am not a crafter at all, so creating things from paper or arts and craft ideas do not come easily to me, but we try anyway and have fun doing it. Elda loves to cut things with the scissors, although lately she has begun just ripping paper instead of being precise like she was. We go with the flow and use what we can.

When it comes to writing, for Elda is a great way for her to express herself however she must have a time limit. Elda starts out excited and wants so much to write and she does. She will sit for an hour or more with her thoughts writing long very mixed-up letters and phrases. Unfortunately, if we let it go too long, she gets anxious because she can’t make sense out of what she wrote, or it is sloppy or it is never finished, and she can’t stop the process in her head. Stopping her or taking away the pen and paper is never easy and needs to be done slowly and with another distraction.

Even though this channel can have a negative effect if not monitored, we still encourage her to do it! We believe that she needs to continue to try to express herself, to think, and to write, because she wants too. We just must pay close attention to her and to understand when her enjoyment turns into frustration.

We need to remember this while this is for enjoyment and requires encouragement and support the physical benefits are tremendous. Strong hands help her to stand up, to hold a coffee cup or fork. They help her grab things and without a doubt give her the strength when she wants to give someone a good slap!

To see more videos please visit our Youtube channel perlamoredielda

playlist: Reading for Alzheimers/Leggendo per Alzheimer