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In this video, I'm going to tell you about the one activity for dementia that works with most everybody at just about every one of the 7 stages of the dementia, 2 reasons why this is the one activity works so well with so many kind of people and finally watch to the end for a quick tutorial on how to set this up in 5 minutes or less
The activity is personalized music similar to what you might have seen from the music and memory program. We all like music for the most part but what makes it so special for dementia folks particularly?
Reason 1: Music Brings Back Up Long Term Memories (what dementia patients still have)
-The reason why music works is dementia takes away short term memory first and hold onto longer term memories for longer (ie memories from their teens and 20s).
The interesting thing about music is that, if I play a song that you know, usually you can tell me when you heard the song, the events that happened and who you were with without much effort because music a tool that our brain unconsciously uses to keep track of our own memories
This fact about music makes it a perfect tool to help your loved one to remember details of their life and open up more normal conversations.
Reason 2: Music Uses All of the Brain
I've had many people in my career as a board certified music therapist tell me how their loved one could sing when they could barely speak or remember words to songs when they couldn't remember family member's names. The reason for this is that music is something that uses all part of the brain to understand.
A way to visualize how this works in a person with dementia is to imagine a road blocks in the brain.
Let's say in the part of the brain that controls language is blocked due to the disease. However, because understanding lyrics to a song also requires the parts of the brain that control moment to understand rhythm and the parts of the brain that manage emotions to understand melody in addition to language, music is able to travel through the part of the brain that aren't damaged in order to make singing lyrics happen.
This is why even in late stages of dementia your loved one is still able to enjoy and participate in music
How to Set Up a Music Activity in less than 5 minutes:
Now that we understand why music is the one activity that generally works with everyone. A way to set it up in less than 5 minutes is to create a personalized playlist. Go on spotify, choose music your loved one listened to as a child, teenager and young adult and listen to the songs together while
asking them simple questions about what they remember about the songs.
Thank you for watching! Check us out our blog at www.dementiasuccesspath.com
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