reminiscence technology Archives ⋆ Cathy Cress

Make Reminiscence a Valentines Gift for Aging Clients- 5 Ways

February 9, 2023

Make reminiscence Valentine’s gift for clients. A great Valentine’s for your client is you the care manager or a caregiver, using reminiscence to gather a client’s memories.

Reminiscence isn’t new. Before the printing press, storytellers and bards were how history was recorded-

You can watch The History Channel to get a history of the world. But History also exists in a family, and you can make your elder family members oral storytellers on Valentine’s Day.

Storytelling only works if the teller remembers the lines. Family history has to be captured when the older person still remembers. So holiday events are a perfect time to tap into that font before it flickers.

Here are some tips to use if you want to capture these family tales during Valentine’s visits with older clients—a perfect time to do this.

1. First, arrive with a real Valentine’s card Just a card that can evoke old memories

2. Reminiscence is Valentine’s gift when you use empathetic listening Make all the messages you give the older person— tone, how fast you speak, how they are sitting- say, “I want to listen to you.” This in itself is a gift to an older person as few people really listen to them as they age.

3. Reminiscence is Valentine’s gift when you ask questions that prompt the story but don’t make judgments. If there are going to record the family tale, on your I phone, record it in a way that doesn’t distract or stop the older person from talking.

4. Reminiscence is the perfect Valentine’s gift when viewing old family photos as memory prompts.

5. Start somewhere. If the elder isn’t going to tell stories on his or her own, start the story and see if they will follow along.” Did you go to Valentine’s parties as when you were a kid or celebrate the day in school by exchanging valentines?” Did you have a special valentine as a teenager or young adult?”

6. If the client has dementia you can still do this with reminiscence prompts like a valentine, chocolate, some flowers, old photos, or a simple valentine decoration you bring.

7. Or contact the family, if they will visit or call, and teach them how to do reminiscence and do this each holiday they may spend with the older loved one.

8. Use technology tools to help you with this legacy building for your older client like Life Bio- or

Quick Voice Recorder

to catch the memory on your phone.

Story Worth

8 Ways to Make Reminiscence a Valentine’s Gift for Aging Clients Tomorrow

February 13, 2020

Want a perfect Valentines’s gift for aging clients?

You already have it. A great Valentine’s for your older client is you the care manager, caregiver or family member- using reminiscence to gather an elders’ memories.

Reminiscence isn’t new. Before the printing press, storytellers and bards were how history was recorded-

Oral storytellers gave us the Odyssey and other oral tales. History exists in a family, and Ulysses or Penelope might be sitting in their home on Valentines’ Day- in the form of your aging clients.

But storytelling or reminiscence only works if the teller remembers the lines. Family history has to be captured when the older person still remembers. So holiday events are a perfect time to tap into that font before it flickers or dries up.

Capture Reminiscence

Here are some tips to use if you want to capture these family tales during Valentine’s visit with older clients—a perfect time to do this before age or dementia wipe their history.

Give Valentine’s gift each week of the year. Use StoryWorth. My daughter Kali Peterson Murphy, who is also in aging as a Program Officer, with the SCAN Foundation, purchased this as a Holiday gift for my husband and her Dad Pete. I love this as a user and a Geriatric care manager. Each week it prompts Pete to answer a question that my daughter chooses when she purchases StoryWorth. Pete can actually change the questions to be ones he wants to answer. Pete writes the answers and I record them on my iPhone and send them into Story Worth with photos that I have gathered of Pete’s life and stored on Google Photos.( this is an option) At the end of the year, her about to be 79-year-old Dad gets a book with all his stories.

It is a slam dunk for reminiscence. The adult child and or family receive the family history to be passed down, the older family members get to both tell her or his story and know that their family is interested in what they have to share from their past and in the end get a book about their lifeform it a fabulous gift.

Order it from Valentine’s Day tomorrow and you will have a year full of family history, an aging adult who knows you care about listening to them and an incredible gift of a reminiscence book for next Valentines’ Day and the rest of your life that you can pass down.

If you visit Reminiscence Tips

2. First, arrive with a real Valentine card and a small sensory gift like a little chocolate or some fresh red and white flowers. Just the card and the gift evoke memories

3. Use empathetic listening Make all the messages you give the older person— tone, how fast you speak, how they are sitting- say, “I want to listen to you.” This in itself is a gift to an older person as few people really listen to them as they age.

4. Ask questions that prompt the story but don’t make judgments. If there are going to record the family tale, as on your I phone, do it in a way that doesn’t distract or stop the older person from talking.

5. You might ask the client or the family for some family photos of the older person growing up, getting married, and use those as memory prompts.

6. Start somewhere. If the elder isn’t going to tell stories on his or her own, start the story and see if they will follow along.” Did you go to Valentine’s parties when you were a kid or celebrate the day in school by exchanging valentines .” Did you have a special valentine as a teenager or young adult?”

7. If the client has dementia you can still do this with reminiscence prompts like a valentine, chocolate, some flowers or a simple valentine decoration you bring.

8. Use technology tools to help you with this legacy-building for your older client like Life Bio- or

Quick Voice Recorder to catch the memory on your phone.

Follow Cathy Jo Cress’s posts in geriatric care management

4 Reminicence Holiday Activities for Dementia Using the Four Senses

December 10, 2019

Looking for dementia activities?

Reminiscence activities provide a way for caregivers or care managers of people with dementia to learn more about them as individuals and begin to see them beyond dementia. Compared to different activities like music, reading, task-oriented, activities that increase live social interaction with the senses have the most impact on effect in persons with dementia.

Reminiscence therapy is a treatment that uses all the senses — sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound — to help people with dementia remember events, people and places from their past lives. As part of the therapy, caregiver or care managers may use objects in various activities to help individuals with a recall of memories. This can give seniors with dementia a feeling of success and confidence because they are still able to recall and have success with some activities.

Reminiscence therapy can include simple activities, such as conversation, as well as more advanced clinical therapies to help bring memories from the distant past into present awareness. Storytelling about past events they recall through the senses can help people with dementia feel less isolated and more connected to the present, experts say.

Some activities the can activate memory in different parts of the brain and help individuals with dementia to reminisce

Looking through photos and keepsakes of prior holidays. Photographs are keepsakes because they bring back memories that help individuals recall- the place where the photo was taken, who was there, even the occasion where the photo was taken. The visual stimulates the part of the brain that holds that memory. Getting out old albums or high school yearbooks and looking at them with the person who has dementia can stimulate good feelings and a time when they were happy and safe.
Listen to their favorite Hanaukka or Christmas music. Music memory and emotion are located in the brain right behind our forehead and are the last parts of the brain to atrophy. That’s why reminiscence is recommended with even the most advanced cases of dementia. If you do a quality of life assessment and find music as a form of joy in a person ‘s life, you can bring tambourines’ shakers or bells or use headphones that play their favorite music. Alive Inside is a famous example of this.
Smell different scents and taste favorite foods. Our sense of smell is embedded in our brain next to memory. So some activities that might work with elders with dementia are making scent cards or bringing scent bringing their favorite food to taste like Hanukka Cookies decored holiday Christmas tree cupcakes have them help prepare simple recipes
Touch is another sense that evokes reminiscence is all of us but is really helpful with Dementia. Knitting, sewing or other crafts in a quality of life assessment show a past skill. Just touching yarn or fabric can bring back memory A walk in the woods or the beach or bringing them to the client with dementia, with a shell from the shore sand, seaweed or keep, bark from a tree, pine needles, pine cones can replicate the touch of these places

7 Tools to Spark Reminiscence As a Holiday Gift

December 1, 2019

Reminiscence isn’t new.

If you work with older clients, reminiscence can be a cherished gift for their holiday celebration

Before the printing press, storytellers and bards were how history was recorded-

Oral storytellers gave us the Odyssey and other valiant tales. History exists in their family, and Ulysses or Penelope might be sitting at your barbecue this coming holiday- in the form of your aging parents.

But storytelling only works if the teller remembers the lines. Family history has to be captured when the older person still remembers. So holiday events are a perfect time to tap into that font before it flickers. At the same time, you give the older person one to one attention, that they may not get often, someone interested in their past and warm memories of their childhood holidays

7 Ways to Capture That Family Ancestry On Holidays

Here are some tips to use if they want to capture these family tales during the coming festivities with aging parents—a perfect time to do this.

1. Use empathetic listening. This means to make all the messages you are are giving the older person— tone, how fast you speak, how they are sitting- all saying, “I want to listen to them.”

2. Ask questions that prompt the story but don’t make judgments. If there are going to record the family tale, do it in a way that doesn’t distract or stop the older person from talking.

3. Start somewhere. If the elder isn’t going to tell stories on his or her own, start the story and see if they will follow along.” What did you do on Christmas day? Did you open gifts at a special time?.” What was your favorite food on the holidays” ” ( you might ask before and make that special cookie and offer it to them?

4. Music is just next to memory in the brain shown by Alive Inside So use Alexa, Spotify, to play 40’s 50’s this Christmas music

5. Simple ways to spark reminiscence on Holidays :

Look at old photos together; perhaps from Christmas past or can be anytime. Choose ones from a period of time the person currently remembers, which could be the person as a young adult, teenager, or even a young child.
Sing holiday songs together or play them on Alexa. Choose carols and songs the older person remembers well.
Enjoy food like a holiday cookie that is a family tradition or specialty, particularly ones that have an element of memory attached from family celebrations perhaps?
Attend a Christmas or Hannaka service where the elder enjoys the sensory experiences of the smells and the bells -the sight of the pageantry, the whiff of incense or, the sound of a choir, quiet prayer said together or the touch of bright paper tearing from a gift.

Here are two technology tools to help you with this legacy-building for your older client or family member

6. Life Bio-

7. Use Quick Voice Recorder to catch the memory on your phone

8. Use some prompts for questions to ask that will help older people reminisce

Reminiscence is part of a whole new domain in aging called quality of life or attending to the older person’s need for joy through activities that stimulate the mind. Reminiscence does that but find out more about how you can increase the quality of life of older people after the holidays and all year long

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5 Tips and Technology for Getting Elders to Reminisce on The Holiday

December 18, 2016

Here are some more tips to use if you want to help aging families capture family stories during this holiday season—a perfect time to do this.

First of all technology to do this- you or your kids already have it-we all carry it around with us all the time. Use your phone and Quick Voice Recorder and just capture the story. You can also use the photo app video that has the picture and sound if the older person feels comfortable.

1.Use empathetic listening . Of course you can’t make the kids do this, but make all the messages you are giving the older person—your tone, how fast you speak, how you are sitting—make them say, “I want to listen to you.”

2.Ask questions that prompt the story but don’t make judgments. If you are going to record the family tale, do it in a way that doesn’t distract or stop the older person from talking. Start somewhere. If your mom or aunt isn’t going to tell stories on their own, start the story and see if they will follow along. “That chair you are sitting in, where did you get it, Mom?” Pick an ornament off the Christmas tree and show it to your dad to see if he can tell you its story. Show him the family menorah you use and ask for the story of when his family used it on holidays.

3. Reminiscence is sparked by the senses, and buried memories flow into our brains. That’s why the holidays are a perfect time to have your older family members share stories with you. The sense of taste spurs memories. Just think of that stollen or fried donut that tasted a lot like your mom’s. On holidays we serve ritual foods, so the foods themselves served over and over can provoke memories in an older person’s mind. Smell brings back memories.

4 Smells bring back memories .When my granddaughter Julia was 14 she was ace woodshop student. She said she smelled pine in the woodshop last week and it reminded her of the smell of Christmas. When we smell the same foods cooking that we knew in the past, when the whiff of holiday candles or a tree hits our nose, old memories are jarred loose.

5.Sound sets us to thinking, and our minds whirl back to places we have been with just the beginning of one song.I played Frank Sinatra for my late dad every morning when the care provider or I got him up and dressed. He recalled every word of every song and was transported back to a happier time, which threw him into the present a happier 87-year-old. On the holidays we play ritual songs that spur our memories.Watch Alive Inside and the magic of their simple techniques

5 Tips and Technology for Getting Elders to Reminisce on The Holiday

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