Advantages Of Games For Dementia Patients

By Iva Cannon


Each activity completed successfully by demented patients impacts much on their happiness. The various games in which the patients participate encourage them to feel to be part of families, besides keeping them engaged. Games for dementia patients can tame feelings of agitation and depression. While taking care of persons suffering from the disorder it is vital to put emphasis on the patient and not their condition.

Projects and activities chosen for the demented should match their skills. As this, helps give them a feeling of independence and ownership. Games for dementia patients can be modified to be less or more challenging depending on the skills of the patient. Emotional connection between a caregiver and a demented person can also improve if they engage them in games they used to enjoy before the condition.

The aim of engaging demented individuals in activities is to encourage success and keep them happy. It is advisable to make the games free of failure. Patients are not to be corrected even if they are making mistakes so long as they are happy and engaged. Visual or verbal instructions should be given only if they are not met with hostility. Their hands could be guided gently when giving instructions.

Forms of destruction such as noise and crowds should be minimized as much as possible in playing areas. The stations must be kept safe including working with unbreakable plastics, the floors or surfaces must be kept clean and the area must be well lit. Tiny objects that are able to be swallowed should be kept away from people with advanced condition.

Previous favorite social activities remain significant part of the demented, although some may have forgotten what they used to do before developing the condition. Sorting games like collecting objects of same shape, design, or color together can be incorporated into their hobbies. Matching names to respective tools is a game that patients who enjoyed working tools can engage in. Game lovers may sort playing cards by position or favorite teams.

People suffering from the condition might engage in solving puzzles, shopping scavenger hunt, and playing catch. Scavenger hunt entails giving the patient lists of objects or items that they have to find at a grocery or mall. This can be extended to include identifying lowest priced items. Jigsaws might be in form of neatly cut family photographs. The photographs may be divided into 4 or 3 pieces for starters.

Favorite quotations such as a line of prayer can be typed on different papers and shuffled before a patient is asked to arrange then into sensible sentences. They may be presented with various words on shuffled blocks, which varying sets of solution. The letters might bear names of their mentors, pets, heroes, favorite actors, or heroes. Over time games for dementia people should be adjusted to different difficulty levels.

Some patients respond better to music than other activities. Research indicates that the ability to process music usually remain intact during the late phases of the condition. They may be played their best songs and encouraged to dance or sing along. Some patients respond to activities going on around them and may join in dancing. Patients can be encouraged to be part of live band music.




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