Grandma Hildegard lies in bed. She can not speak anymore. She only makes sounds. Communication is difficult. Here, relatives should not stick their heads in the sand and maintain conversations. Pastor and nurse Uli Zeller gives tips on how to deal with people with dementia.
Pastor and nurse Uli Zeller
1. Look your opponent in the eye. Make sure that it is comfortable for your conversation partner and interrupt the look if you have the feeling of staring. In between the nose instead of fixing the eyes, can help.
2. Talk to the person concerned from the beginning. Lateral speeches can lead to irritation or ensure that spoken words are not heard.
3. At rest lies the power. So too with the speed of the language. You should always talk slowly and clearly. Emphasize individual words, if they are meaningful. Use short concise sentences and do not yell at your listener. In older people with dementia, this could trigger negative memories and cause anxiety.
4. Read something to him. How about an amusing story from „Ms. Janzen is dancing. Happy stories to read aloud to people with dementia „. Activating stories, poems or proverbs can be found here, to which the democratically changed like to remember and animate to participate.
5. Use facial expressions and gestures to transmit emotions. Underline your sentences with a wave of the hand. Awake, smile or runny your forehead. So your counterpart can process the words better.
6. Depending on how familiar your conversation partner is – touch him or true distance. Hold your hand or keep your distance. Depending on the state of health, distance can weigh in safety or proximity makes love palpable.
7. Address your grandma or grandpa with his name. Pay attention to the correct salutation. Gemiedlichungen such as „Omilein“ you should avoid.
8. Repeating the same events or individual aspects over and over again can indicate important details of their lives. Here it is important to listen and take stories seriously.
9. Respect when your counterpart changes time, place or perspective. Do not correct, for example, when a woman speaks of her deceased husband as if he were still there.
10. Realize the body language of your counterpart. For although language and thought are often confused, they express their feelings through facial expressions and gestures. Even your feelings can be perceived for a very long time. Often, in late stages, demented people get a lot more than they seem at first sight.
