Engaging with a person who has dementia will vary day to day. However, it is likely you will be faced with situations that will frustrate you. You will need to remember that the present situation will not change, and you will need to be patient.
The person with dementia is living in the current moment. You will need to become patient and live in the reality they are living in.
One winter day I was engaging two residents. I remember they were wonderful people and both did have cognitive challenges. Filling in the blanks trivia was a very engaging approach with the two women at hand. This activity had been going great for a very long time and I simply enjoyed spending time with them every day.
Suddenly one day one of the women started to change. Her ability to engage in the fun activity together became stressful because she was not able to complete the trivia. She would storm off in frustration. The other woman became frustrated because she was in a routine to be in the group with her partner in crime. I became frustrated because it was no longer going to be enjoyable.
This program was no longer going to be an option. As frustrating as it was I had to practice patience in programming and need to find another person to engage with our woman who wanted to play trivia.
As we know not everyone is the same and we are all unique. I had to change the way a new person was going to engage with my friend. I was going to have to practice new approaches to make it work.
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