Story time for Alzheimer's patients

Once upon a time, communicating with Alzheimer's patients was a difficult task to master. But thankfully, through trial and error we have learned many types of speech therapy that can enhance conversation.

When patients advance into a moderate to late stage of the disease, it will become even more difficult for them to communicate through conventional methods.

Recently, it has been discovered that telling them stories often sparks their imagination. These stories can be used as a catalyst for releasing thoughts that are trapped deep in the back of their minds collecting dust.

You might ask, "Where does someone get such stories?" Well, remember the old saying about listening to your elders? Well, this is a perfect place to begin. If you're caring for a parent, the stories that were told to you throughout the years are ideal to recite back to them. These tales have special meanings to your loved one. Even if you happen to tell a story wrong and get corrected, you have successfully induced a conversation. By knocking off the dusty cobwebs from those pathways traveling through their brain, their mind's eye might have them telling you a story you never heard before.

Anne Basting is the founder of the Milwaukee-based national project called TimeSlips. These creative people have been successful in using storytelling as a therapeutic tool for Alzheimer's patients. This method is increasingly being used in adult daycare centers and other group settings.

The storytelling is unconventional compared to a standard reading of a book. Their technique starts with a picture followed by questions. Hopefully the photograph triggers something from the patient's past. The enquiry is the key to everything. They're not asking questions that call forth yes or no answers; they're more like, "Who is this?" or "What is this?" The use open-ended questions that have no right or wrong answers which hopefully will jumpstart the ol' noggin.

The person running the session makes notes of the group's responses or has someone else transcribing them. From the imagination of these memory-impaired patients, a story is created, then printed on the back of the photograph from which the story originated.

This is sent to the families and nursing homes and finally read back to the patients. To say the least, this is a unique way to have Alzheimer's patients become more verbally active and it appears to be working.

By keeping them communicating, this will prolong their alertness and increases the quality of their life. If you would like more information on this subject, visit the project's Web site at: www.timeslip.org.

Sadly, people suffering from dementia arrive at a point where they can no longer recall many of the facts about their own life, but they seem to be able to construct a new reality.

It takes a lot of energy, learning and patience to reckon with Alzheimer's patients, but you can enrich your loved one's life by telling them one story at a time.