Sensory Stimulation

Population: Dementia, Alzheimers

                                                                                     
Size of Group: 3-6

Equipment:
A box- To carry all of the objects listed below.
Sight- binder full of pictures, Lava lamp and a glitter ball.
Touch- Shower puff, play dough, Textured ball, the glitter ball can apply here too, hand lotion.
Smell- Lavender body wash (or essential oil and diffuser)
Hearing- CD player and relaxation CD
Taste- anything that you would like to (be sure to take residents diets into account) The great thing about this box is that you can individualize it to your client/resident or group and your box can grow, anything that may stimulate a person may go into this box.


Objective:
* To provide a clam and relaxing environment
* To provide clam and relaxation to a client/resident emotions
* To stimulate all of the senses
* To provide clients/residents with a sense of well being


Description:
To get started turn on the lava lamp and the CD player with the relaxation music, lower the lights place all of the other sensory items on the table, pour some body wash in to a bowl and pour hot water over it (great for long term home setting, because of fire codes you may not be able to use essential oils and diffuser) the sent will fill the air. Then start bring resident into the room. As you bring the clients in encourage them to look through the picture book, to touch the play dough and so on. As you look through the picture book ask questions or ask them to tell you a story/memory that coincides with the picture. The taste part of the program can be the refreshments.

Sensory Stimulations

Stories out of a Hat

Population: Aging Population and Alzheimers

Size: 4+

Equipment: Hat or bowl
strips of construction with descriptive questions

Objective: stimulate memory
allow staff to see clients as ""real people""
encourage communication, sharing and trust within group

Description: prior to session group leader will write out memory stimulating questions and/or phrases on the strips of paper, fold paper in half and place in hat/bowl.

Questions will reflect group objectives for session. for example, favorite memory of mom?
favorite book or movie, Why?
favorite season what is your favorite thing to do?
who were you closest to growing up?
 best friend story, first drive in date, each client/staff chose a slip from the hat.

 Tell their story and pass the hat on.

Cognitive Stimulation

Hooping!

Last night's class was a lot of fun and very educational!  A lady came in that talked to us about hooping.  Hooping (hula hooping) can be used for a variety of different purposes.  She came in and talked to us about how a hooping program would benefit the clients that we would be working with.  There was so much that she talked about that I am just going to touch on a few things.

First off, did you know that Hooping burns just as many calories as being at a boot camp?  WOW right?  What about helping you build stronger muscles? Okay, that one does make sense.  But most of all, she talked about how it helped you become one with your inner sense of self.  When you hoop, you are connected mentally, physically, and spiritually.  Nothing else should matter and you are just in the moment.  Of course there are people that do it for entertainment and there is a link below that you can watch demonstrating that but what I got out of last night's presentation was how it can connect you within yourself.  I am definately going to try to keep it going in my life and maybe one day facilitate an activity on Hooping with my future clients.

Hooping Life

Relaxing Tuesday!

Last Tuesday our class participated in activities such as: relaxation, sports and recreation games, and drama.  However, I was very ill that day so I had to spend my "relaxing Tuesday" in my bed sleeping while everyone was enjoying the activities at class.  

I did talk to a peer of mine and she gave me some insight on what class all entailed and from what I understood, I would like to talk a little about it.

The first group was Relaxation.  They made stress balls out of balloons and also did a little bit of guided imagery.  I, myself to meditation and guided imagery and think this is a huge topic that everyone should discuss with their clients at some point and time.  There are versions for all types of populations and age groups.  Making a stress ball is also a good way to relieve stress.  I actually have a stress cow that was given to me from my Uncle that I use while I am working on papers and projects.  I stop from time to time to think about what I should write in my paper and squeeze the stress cow to release pressure/stress.  I think it really helps me!

The second group that went talked about drama.  They showed drama by taking random, daily objects and splitting the class up into groups.  With the object, they were to pretend they didn't know what it was and think of a way they could use it.  A clip was shown from The Little Mermaid when Ariel uses a fork to comb her hair.  I guess it was very humorous and a lot of fun.  This would be really good for a population that has a hard time expressing their creativity and thinking outside of the box rather than just focusing on their problems all of the time.  It would be a time to get away for just a little bit.

The third and final group was Recreation Sports. The peer that I talked about mentioned two games that they had played.  One game she couldn't exactly remember what it was called or how it was played but the other one was similar to a relay game.  However, one person was blindfolded and others would have to instruct you through an obstacle course.  I think that this would be very beneficial and is clearly a trust initiative.  A population that you could work with on this particular activity could be abused/neglected children or persons of any matter.  It would work on their trust skills little by little.

Product Slogans

Population
Cognitive Defecits

Benefits
Mental: memory, creativity
Emotional: feelings of success, competence, challenge
Social: group interaction, conversation

Greeting Suggestions
Have participants exchange names
Have members think of their favorite advertisements
As a group, brainstorm to name quality products

Activity
We often identify products with the slogans used to advertise them over the years. This activity will challenge the participants to remember and connect products with the appropriate slogan.

1.Matching. Write 5-10 slogans on a large sheet of paper. Hand out
Pictures of the products and have participants match each with the corresponding slogan.

2. Guessing. Read a slogan and ask participants to call out the corresponding product. This may be done in teams or individually.

3. Create a Slogan. Have individuals or small groups create their own
Slogans for a number of products. See if the rest of the group can guess the right product for each slogan.

More information on Product Slogans

Depression Jeopardy

Size of Group:
4 to 12 participants

Equipment:
 white board, dry erase markers, list of depression related jeopardy questions with answers

Objective:
Educational game of jeopardy meant to teach mental illness patients about depression. Participants will learn about symptoms, medications, coping skills, causes, and types of depression.

Description:

1. Draw a Jeopardy layout on the whiteboard by writing the categories at the top of the board and the point amounts underneath of them. (Ed note: you can also create a Jeopardy board on a power point and use a projector or large screen TV)

2. Divide participants into teams depending on the total number in the group.

3. Instruct clients to choose a category and the number of points they want to go for.

4. Ask the team a question related to depression and tell them to work together to come up with an answer.

5. If the team is unable to answer the question correctly the next team can steal the question by answering it with the correct answer. This continues until all teams have had a chance to answer the question.

6. If there is a tie between two teams at the end of the game, provide a tie breaker question for both teams to answer.

For Examples of Questions Click HERE!

Sock it to ME!

Population: Alzheimer's

Size of Group: Groups of 5

Equipment: old socks of different colors--the bigger the better. Inside each sock is hidden an item that participants will guess.

Objective: Each person gets a chance to guess what is in each sock.

Description: The game can be played in a variety of different ways. Socks can be open so participants can take items out after they guess -- or to control the guessing, each sock can be tied into a knot after inserting an item to be guessed.
Each person can be given a different sock/item to guess, then you mix them up and give each person a different sock/item to guess.
OR - you can give a sock to the first person and let them make a guess, pass it to the next person and let them make a guess. After the last person guesses, the facilitator/activity professional re-caps the all the guesses - then tells what is in the sock. Celebrate successes.
Items to be placed inside socks can include: wooden clothes pin, 2 crayons, comb, tennis ball, pacifier, small baby cup, plastic eye glasses, measuring spoon 1 T size, wooden cooking spoon, etc.
Remember - Have fun with some of the guesses.

More on Alzheimer Activities!