Scrappin for Alzheimers

Scappin for Alzheimers is a scrapbooking project that is meant to encourage conversation, connecting and reminiscence with a person with dementia. Having a hands-on project helps to open lines of communication, giving everyone something to do and also takes any pressure to perform away from the person with dementia.

This is not just finishing a scrapbook; but rather, doing a scrapbook for grandfather. It is a different motivation. Later, the scrapbook can be used as a reminiscence tool with the person with dementia. And it will always be remembered as the handy-work of the loved one with dementia. One family video-taped the scrappin’ experience as a keepsake.

Many persons in the early stages of dementia are still able to reminisce. Reminiscence is a way for people to share stories and feelings about their past. Scrappin’ sets the stage. There are big misunderstandings about reminiscing. Often people are concerned because people with dementia don’t remember things correctly. However, this doesn’t matter. You may also find that persons with dementia talk as if they are living in the past. That is fine too. The point is that they have the opportunity to talk about things important to them, not that they get it right. In this case, the scrapbook project is not a historical product; it is an interaction piece.

One concern people have about reminiscing is that persons with dementia retell the same story, over and over again. But all of us must remember that it’s not about us. It’s about the person with Alzheimer’s disease – the world’s most boring disease for the person affected. We accept repetition and focus on the loved one’s current retelling – as if it were the first time we heard that same story. It is her story and telling it over again may make her just as happy as the first time she told it. Reminiscing is an opportunity for all caregivers to do a simple thing - listen. Scrappin’ for Alzheimer’s invites us to do that.

Even a visiting relative or neighbor – who doesn’t know how to communicate with the person with Alzheimer’s – can be coached on scrapbooking. Its like working a puzzle. Anyone can pick up where they left off. Scappin’ encourages more people to spend more time with the person with dementia.

As important as it is for us to remember to listen to the person with dementia, it will be just as important for us to talk to her she can no longer speak. But it's been shown that the person with dementia in an assisted care setting, who is more talkative, is the one who gets talked to the most. Scrappin’ for Alzheimer’s is about conversation and is a means of increased interaction and social engagement for the person with dementia.

The type of conversation you have with the person with dementia depends on the level of dementia. Some with less advanced dementia are much more likely to reminisce, but talking to a person with advanced dementia requires more skills. It may involve no words at all - a different kind of “conversation.” It’s called “sharing the moment.”

It’s important that caregivers talk to the person they are caring for. Scrapbooking and life story-telling can be a catalyst for conversation. Having a conversation with a person with dementia can be frustrating, but if we shift our expectation of the conversation, the process will become easier. Don’t expect it to always make sense. The goal of conversation with the person with dementia is to engage them in whatever way possible. The person with dementia will engage in conversation differently. Scrappin’ can help.

Depending on the type of brain damage they have, some people with dementia cannot speak but can understand what is being said to them. Others cannot understand what is being said to them but can speak. Some people cannot speak or understand. So, we cannot assume people with dementia cannot understand just because they cannot speak. Never stop trying to communicate with the person with dementia. Never underestimate what she understands and never say anything in her presence you wouldn’t want her to understand. In spite of all their language losses, people with dementia are good at understanding your body language, tone of voice, gestures and facial expressions. This skill continues almost to the end.