Helping Children Understand Alzheimer's Disease

By Suzie Harder RN BSN

I just opened my latest edition of Geriatric Nursing and low and behold there was an article in it entitled "Alzheimer's Disease from a Child's Perspective." In it there is a short list of books to read with children as well as a list of activities that children can share with adults who have Alzheimer's Disease.

The books listed are:

• Beautiful Pearl (Nancy Whiteclaw, 1990)
• Grandpa Doesn't Know It's Me (Donnie Gutherie, 1986)
• The Memory Box (Mary Bahr, 1992)
• What's Wrong With Daddy? (Young, 1986)
• When Meme Came to Live at My Home (Mary Langdon, 1999)

I think a couple of these have already been mentioned (on the discussion group).

Some of the activities suggested are:

• Listening to music, dancing or singing
• Creating simple crafts
• Taking a walk
• Coloring or painting
• Watching TV or videos
• Performing simple household tasks, such as folding laundry, making beds, or washing and drying dishes
• Looking at old photo albums.