Life with Alzheimer’s disease can feel odd for seniors. They may need extra help with certain tasks, but feel perfectly comfortable doing many of the activities they’ve done most of their lives. When they feel overwhelmed, they may require additional support. Alzheimer’s home care providers can help family caregivers and seniors with Alzheimer’s disease learn more about adapting activities so that seniors get help, but also remain independent when possible.
Break Down Tasks
Because Alzheimer’s disease affects cognitive abilities, seniors may find themselves starting a task or activity and then blanking out about what comes next. What can help in these situations is to have Alzheimer’s home care providers or family caregivers break the tasks down for them. If they’re getting dressed, for instance, several smaller steps make up that bigger task.
Use Modeling and Gentle Prompts
Sometimes what seniors with Alzheimer’s find helpful is to have someone there with them, modeling the task. If they’re brushing their teeth, for instance, Alzheimer’s home care providers can stand next to them and model brushing their own teeth. Verbal cues, along with the modeling, can give them even more help staying on target.
Pictures and Videos Sometimes Help
Putting up pictures that illustrate tasks can be helpful, as well. Some seniors might enjoy doing things like watching a video about a bigger activity beforehand. These visual aids can take some of the anxiety out of new tasks and reassure seniors with Alzheimer’s disease that they can try something new.
Let Seniors Try What They Can
One mistake that family members often make is trying to do too much for the seniors they love. They do this because they want to help, but they don’t realize that it can cause seniors to feel as if they can’t do anything on their own anymore. Letting seniors try doing different activities helps them to feel independent and preserves their self-esteem. When they need help, they know that they can ask for it and get that assistance.
Provide Supervision, Just in Case
Alzheimer’s home care providers offer just the right amount of supervision for seniors battling cognitive illnesses. They can help family caregivers learn this fine art, too. The key is to stay in the vicinity and to be there in case something goes slightly wrong. If seniors choose the hot water instead of the cold water while brushing their teeth, for instance, someone can step in. But until that help is needed, caregivers can just be a calming presence in the room with seniors.
Learning to balance preserving independence and offering help while keeping seniors with Alzheimer’s disease as safe as possible can feel like an impossible goal for family caregivers. But Alzheimer’s home care providers have so much experience and knowledge to share. They can help families be there for the seniors they love without hovering and taking over tasks. Seniors with Alzheimer’s disease learn that they can keep doing many of their familiar tasks while also relying on help from Alzheimer’s home care to be there for them when they need it.
If you or an aging loved one is considering Alzheimer’s Home Care Services in Newport Beach, CA, please call the caring staff at Canaan Home Care today! 1-844-CANAAN-1 (1-844-226-2261)
Canaan Home Care – A Premier Provider of Senior Home Care in the La Jolla, Del Mar, San Diego, Rancho Santa Fe, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Tustin, and Manhattan Beach areas.
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