Games to teach students about Alzheimers/or memory loss

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jan 9, 2017

I honestly can't think of a way to make that fun. Funny, yes, but not fun.

When my mother was in her early stages of Alzheimer's we used to laugh and joke about her "stupid moments". Some of those stories are on this website with titles that start with "Alzheimer's:". Mom and I laughed a lot about those moments.

The best way I can think of to illustrate the memory loss to nursing students is with family photographs on a laptop or iPad. Early in the disease, Mom would recognize pictures of my great-great grandfather (whom she had never met), former neighbors, her extended family and even random pictures of barns and horses from when she was a child. I'd show her a picture, and write down some of her memories. She was fascinated with those old photos, and we could go over them for hours. Sometimes she'd recognize pictures of my home, my dog, my husband and my step-child and other times she'd catch on with reminders.

Then she'd fail to recognize current pictures -- they wouldn't mean anything at all to her. She was still fascinated with the older pictures, and was still mostly reliable with her identification and the stories she'd tell.

The next time I'd see her, she had NO interest in pictures of me and my family, but intermittently recognized my sister (her favorite). She was fascinated with all the pictures of her and my father as a young couple and the pictures from her childhood, but there were some inaccuracies in identifying peripheral figures from her early life. The neighbors, for example, were fading away.

I could only see my mother two or three times a year because I lived so far away and it cost so much to visit. The next time, she was most interested in pictures of her, her parents and her brothers when they were all children. She spent time looking for her parents, wondering how they were doing and kept asking me if I had seen them lately. I believe that she thought I was one of her mother's many sisters, but I'm not entirely certain.

Then she was only barely interactive, looking at the old pictures if I held them up for her, but not engaging.

And finally, neither the pictures or I myself were of any interest to her at all. You could present this as a power point showing the pictures with detailed descriptions, and having the descriptions get less and less descriptive as the disease progresses. Make them fun pictures, and if possible, get different photographic perspectives of the same scene. You'll be showing the same group of people up there multiple times, so make it a photo or series of photos that will stand up.

I hope this helps.

amoLucia · Jan 9, 2017

(((Ruby Vee)))

You explained it very well. Maybe that's some deep down reason why I so respected those old pix that my LTC pts would have at their beside.

JMHO, but I don't think there's any 'fun' or 'funny' ways to explain Alzheimer's. The poignancy of the mental 'wasting away' is devastating. Not to mention if the Alz's is accompanied by violent or aggressive behaviors. Or worse still, early onset - like in mid 40's.

There was an old TV commercial, 'the mind is a terrible thing to waste.. Oh, how truly sad!

I think OP just phrased her post oddly.

RNperdiem, RN · Jan 9, 2017

Read a book called The Thirty-Six Hour Day. It is filled with memorable examples of life with dementia.

For example, when you tell someone with advanced dementia to go take a bath, you are asking for a lot of tasks that have to be done in a certain order, with the person keeping track of what has been done and what needs to come next. Sometimes too much for a person.

Read the book and pull a few examples. It has helped me over the years.

Emergent, RN · Jan 9, 2017

Need ideas of games or ways to teach nursing students about Alzheimers/memory loss. What it is like to lose your precious memories.

Maybe everyone can get together smoke a bunch of weed? Then see if they remember why they went into a room. Be sure to have a lot of snacks.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2017

Maybe I'm sensitive about this, having lost my Grandma to dementia...well technically she died of hypothermia, but she wouldn't have wandered out into the cold wearing only a shirt and slippers if her brain were healthy.

But the idea of using a game to teach adults about such a devastating disease is very off-putting. I like Ruby Vee's suggestion though.