Minnesota Care Givers Ask What To Do With A Person With Alzheimer’s

Creative Collages–A Bit of This and a Bit of That

Many who care for loved ones with memory loss have a difficult time filling the hours of the day. As cognitive ability decreases, there seem to be fewer and fewer possibilities. Here’s one activity that not only fills the time, but helps fulfill both care recipient and care giver, and additionally, serves a few other purposes.

Making a collage is an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. All you need is a large sheet of colored construction paper, some old magazines, glue, scissors and a felt tip pen. The idea is to make a collage with your client using pictures that are meaningful to him or her. The goal of the process is to facilitate self-expression, communication and social interaction.

To begin, just look at old magazines together. The care giver cuts out pictures that seem appealing to the care receiver. He/she tells (or points to) where he or she wants the picture pasted on the sheet. If the person is verbal and able to give you a title or caption for the picture, you write it under the picture. If not, suggest one and watch for a “yes” or “no” response (it could be a nod or a smile. Instead of writing with a felt tip pen, you could also cut out the words you need from the magazines to make captions. (They look rather like a ransom note!)

This pleasurable activity has been successfully used in skilled facilities even with patients who were barely able to communicate, who wandered, avoided eye contact, and who did not appear to recognize family members. In one instance, a wife (Mary) found that when she sat down with her husband James and began to page through a magazine in search of items to use in the collage; her husband surprisingly seemed interested. Mary would point out pictures and talk about them, and though James would often turn away, he remained seated and actually listened. Eventually he bagan touching pictures he seemed attracted to. His selections seemed to reflect elements the couple shared in their life together, and Mary would talk to him about the memories they triggered. James would sometimes remain engaged for more than an hour.

One day, Mary began to sob as she showed staff their collage. It depicted a car, a tractor, basketball players and the words, “I’m OK, I’m Alive” that seemed to leap off the top of the page. Mary tearfully explained that James kept touching these words even though she had been reluctant to cut them out for him. It was the message that helped her realize that she hadn’t lost him completely.

Besides encouraging communication and social interaction, the collage process also increases self-esteem and enables the individual with dementia to express thoughts and feelings. This often improves speech and cognitive ability, which can help reduce depression and difficult behavior.

The process is beneficial to the professional caregiver because it helps pinpoint an individual’s interests, making it easier to create discussion by finding common experiences. We are social beings and our emotional and often physical well-being depends upon our ability to interact and communicate with others. Collage communication is a simple tool that enables access to both.

–From an article in Care Advantage by Katya Luisa, Cost Rica and Los Alamos, NM., who developed the program. An exerpt from this article was included in one of the monthly newsletters sent to all Seniors’ Choice employees. For information about Senior Care in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, call 763-546-1599, or check out our website at http://www.seniorschoicemn.com