Elder Care in Rockville Center NY
As a caregiver offering care for an elderly adult with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, one of your main care goals should be finding ways to exercise and strengthen your parent’s mind. Studies have shown that regular “workouts” for the brain improve cognitive processing and can even help slow down the progression of the disease. Keeping your parent’s brain working, however, does not have to mean a never-ending stream of flashcards or having him repeat things to you throughout the day. While these activities do offer cognitive benefits, they can get tedious for both you and your senior.
This April 13, shake up your Alzheimer’s care and start a new tradition with your elderly parents by participating in Scrabble Day. This fun holiday celebrates the classic board game of Scrabble, which emerged in 1948 and has remained an enduring favorite for generations. With this game each player must make words on a board using lettered tiles. As the words form on the board the result resembles a crossword puzzle with new words connecting to others by borrowing letters and forming off of them either vertically or horizontally. Each word must be connected only to the letters that make up that word and each letter has a specific point value, allowing players to add up the value of their words to determine the winner.
Playing a game of Scrabble with your elderly parents stretches everyone’s brain in several ways, including:
• Players must think quickly to evaluate the words already on the board, the available letters, and the spaces. Since some spaces on the board are worth more in points than others, players must be strategic in choosing the words they play in order to maximize the point value of each word.
• Words played by other players directly impact the available words of all of the other players. You may be planning on spelling out “egress” with that dangling “s” from your husband’s last turn, but if your daughter then takes it to spell out “satin”, you must rethink your approach and find a new word. This challenges your parents’ ability to think ahead and then modify their plans according to the situation.
• Scrabble relies on a skill known as “anagramming”. This means to look at a word or a collection of letters and rearrange it to create new words. This requires abstract thought as well as the ability to visualize words even if you are unable to see all of the letters as you plan for potential words if you draw certain letters out of the tile bag.
• Playing this game introduces players to new words by reading the words played by others. Your seniors will have the chance to hear new words and may be prompted to use vocabulary they have not actively used in many years.
If your elderly parents have already progressed into later stages of the disease, the traditional version of Scrabble may be too challenging for them, creating frustration. In this case, look for Scrabble Junior. This scaled-down version of the game features words already printed on one side of the board so players must match their letters to the existing letters to spell out the words. This game still provides visual stimulation and requires thought processing such as recognition and matching.
If you or an aging loved one are in need of elder care services in Rockville Center, NY or the surrounding areas, contact the caring professionals at Star Multi Care Services today at (631)956-8835. We are the Right Choice for Home Health Care Services!
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