This is the second in a week long series I shared on Facebook a few months back on how to use instruments to create shared experiences and foster self-expression and communication with those with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Archive for dementia
This is the first in a week long series I shared on Facebook a few months back on how to use instruments to create shared experiences and foster self-expression and communication with those with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
One of the difficult and painful tasks caregiver’s of those with dementia and Alzheimer’s face is the decision to place a loved one in long term care. Guilt, fear and sadness are just a few of the resulting emotions that can accompany this reality. I recently discovered this song by John Law who expressed the emotions he was experiencing when he had to place his mother in nursing home. Entitled Still a Child, John sings of his guilt and feeling as though he were abandoning his mother while at the same time, feeling that he, himself, is still a child. As you listen to this song, what resonates with you? If you were composing such a song, what emotions would you express?
STILL A CHILD
If you knew what I was going through
You’d approve of what I had to do.
Putting you away for the rest of your days,
Play on my heart and tears me apart
I walk away with you on my mind,
It’s killing me to leave you behind.
You’re begging me to take you home,
But I feel so guilty because I leave alone
Cause I’m still a child when I look in your eyes
And it makes me cry and it makes me cry
Now every hello feels like I’m saying goodbye
Goodbye good bye goodbye
If I could have you back for one more day
Would you reassure me what I’m doing is okay
Would you comfort me and ease my mind,
Cause only you can help me find my way
Song written by John and Michele Law and Bakhus Saba © 2011 SOCAN
Summer has FINALLY arrived in Ohio. I love the hot weather of summer. This season offers so many great themes for my music therapy groups with older adults and those with dementia. One of my favorite themed groups to do is Camp Songs. I love to hear the residents retell their experiences with summer camp…good and bad. I often hear tales of fishing swimming, sleeping in tents, and cooking over an open fire. In most cases, these campfire memories are not complete with a good old sing-along.
It is at this point in the group that I like to pull out a variety of silly songs I learned one summer at camp. Most of these songs are familiar to the residents, but occasionally I stump them with a new-found gem. Here are five silly camp songs to use when connecting with loved ones, older adults, and those with Alzheimer’s and dementia:
3. Once An Austrian Went Yodeling
BONUS: And here is the ultimate camp song:
Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah
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