Reading comprehension exercises.

I know this is off the topic, but Leolonnie’s check on ‘Stay off the turps’ reminds me of a Politician who was part of a committee lunch I went to years ago. He was talking about a group of local government people he had taken to see derro’s living on the river banks, one of whom offered them all a mug of coffee, which they were too polite to turn down. A lady Councilor said ‘it has an unusual taste, how do you make it?’, and the guy said ‘Oh that’s the meths’. A behavioral challenge on what to do with the rest of the mug?

Now that's the sort of 'reading comprehension exercise' that rarely makes it on the site!

PleaseGodHelp, (yes, the name is a bit "triggering")
Thanks for responding to us.
When I answered your query above I said to you (after saying I wasn't aware of any programs for reading improvement, and asking for links) this :
"If you know more than I do on this one, hope you will write us about who suggested such exercises and what their purpose is. Would love a link to what you are suggesting."

You came back to us with the following:
You first told us all you have done for your mother, and how much it has improved her life. That she is now so much BETTER, rather than worse. Rereading back I see you did mention she had done memory work; but you hadn't mentioned it helped.

I compliment you on working so hard with your mom. I celebrate your success, and I will tell you that you are for me, a first.
I have never seen anyone improve consistently by such exercises in a long career in nursing. Particularly with reading, which is often a great frustration, even in beginning stages where our elders will tell us "I read the same page over and over and can't get anywhere".
I HAVE seen elders improved by relief from anxiety. To me it is the most important care, alleviating anxiety; I was afraid you were attempting to "school" your mom, insisting she "remember"; we see that happen here so often.
But no, you were attempting to return to her a lost love, that of reading (which she and I share) and you were having SUCCESS (unbeknowst to us at the time we responded to you). Your mom was improving and happier. There's not a single member on Forum who would not applaud that, celebrate that.
And yes, we often ARE resigned. Many of us have done the whole haul, and we know the trajectory, and it has in some ways made the rough placed planed; but we know we are heading downhill ultimately with this disease, and we had best recognize that.
Which brings me to:

You appear in your response to us quite angry.
You say you are "stunned" by our "sheer negativity". And that you have never failed to be so when you come to AC.
You say "no one gets to tell me what is possible with my mom".
Then comes the fact we are "resigned", which by that point seems a way to tell us how good and how successful you are, and how resigned and therefore unsuccessful we all have been.

OK. I accept the challenge for this New Year.
Less resignation. More hope. My third resolution I think.
I thank you for telling us what has helped your mom in any way.
Whether such help is temporary or may be ongoing helpful and prevent the downward trajectory for any time at all isn't really even the question. It has brought you and your mother BOTH a good deal of happiness. And you aren't badgering her to remember; you are trying to return to her a love of something she is losing. So my fears were unfounded.

I think we may have mistakenly put your name "pleaseGodhelp" together with asking for some exercises in reading comp, and thought "Oh, oh. Poor mom". When in fact the opposite is the case, as you have made clear. I think we thought to prevent false hope or frustrated home schooling for mom.
My way of saying "we meant well".

Finally, and given your explanation to us of what you have been doing and intend to continue?
I say that as long as what you are doing works so great, it's clearly just wonderful.
Many below have given you further suggestions. You know your mom best. I was just in Kroch And Brentano's yesterday using up a gift certificate, and WOW! Makes me want to go back and shop for your Mom; they have a TON of stuff.
I myself find some of the big Art Sticker books a Zen of peace and creation that comforts my mind, but there were books and easy puzzles galore and the kid's section a riot of wonders. I spent all my money on art appreciation books.

I wish you good luck. I invite you to PREACH it HERE if you have something that is working for your mother. Don't bother to ask us. Go ahead and tel

I just read your reply. Has your Mom been formally diagnosed with a Dementia? Because what you have written is a real turn around. Did she have a stroke that was diagnosed wrong? I can see coming back from a stroke, you rechannel the brain. But a Dementia literally kills the brain. And once that part of the brain dies, there is no rejuvenating it.

My grandson was operated on for epilepsy. He was told if any damage was caused during the surgery, the other side of his brain could be trained to compensate the damage.

I was in the throes of picking up a very sick mother when I chose that handle. Can’t change it.

Ick… ickkkkk…

peace. out.

'PleaseGodHelp' as a name sounds a bit close to 'sheer negativity' to me. My first post was an attempt to help with something easy, not any 'level of negativity'. If you don't want a range of people to answer your question, why ask it? Or at least give more information up front.

Children’s Highlights magazine ?
There are also a ton of other magazine subscriptions for children if you google “ reading magazines for elementary and middle school age” .

I never fail to be just… stunned when I come back and ask a question here — at the level of resignation, I guess, from other caregivers. The sheer negativity. ?

My mom came to me having lost all interest in reading. My sister reported that she can’t read a book anymore. After 27 months in my care she is reading all the time. She not only reads she reads some passages out loud with great excitement and bookmarks them if I’m not there. She’ll take a book to her bedroom and read for hours. The other day Inplayed an episode of a show she would normally not remember and she said. “We’ve seen this. I remember this.”

She had some therapy early on where they used these sentences and I reminded her of it today and said it might be fun to do again on our own and she sounded excited about it— which is why I asked. What could be the harm in exercising her brain?

My mom hasn’t gotten any worse. If anything she’s getting better. She’s more independent now. If I have something to do that day she finds things to keep herself occupied. She’s even showing some interest in taking up painting again. She was not interested in anything creative this time last year. She’s asking about the methods I’ve been using to paint my paintings. We watch the portrait artist competitions in England. She loves it. She has come to love football and chatters all through the games. She would really love to do some humanitarian work, takes food out daily for the squirrels and the birds and does the dishes and empties the trash.

No one gets to tell me what is possible for my mom. Daily stimulation and hope and faith in the unknown are key if you ask me. And if you can’t help me I’ll keep on looking. 👍🏻

You could try an Alzheimer's store online. I'm afraid you're wasting your time, though. Her memory is likely to be like a sieve.

You can get books with just pictures in them, like a book of photos with children with animals. The main value of those is that you can look at them together and you can talk to her about them. She probably won't remember the pictures from one time to another. They use these at my husband's memory care facility, but mostly the residents just look at them and don't engage in conversation about them.

People often show photo albums to their loved ones or play family movies in hopes they will remember their family members. In my experience, this has been worthless, and I've taken care of four family members who had dementia including, now, my husband. None benefitted.

You can't exercise dying or dead brain cells. Brains are not like biceps!

My Mom was an avid reader. Dementia robbed her of that. She no longer could follow a book. She could read sign,but no longer comprehend what the sign meant. Short-term memory loss makes it hard from day to day, minute to minute to process and comprehend. After a certain point, exercises do nothing. You can't improve a brain that is dying.

You can try getting the "workbooks" that are sold for children to help them with classwork.
There are a variety of books from numbers to writing. the preschool and first grad are pretty basic.
Children's books might also be something you could try.
Now....
I honestly do not think that "comprehension exercises" are going to help much and may lead to a lot of frustration. Particularly if you tend to "push" her to do them.
Frustration can lead to arguments and anger.
Coloring books, Paint by number sets, sorting games, card games, blocks might keep her occupied for a time.
Giving her scissors to cut out pictures in a magazine or recipes (If it is safe to give her scissors)

What makes you think memory workbooks are going to be helpful for your mother who already has dementia?? There are plenty of memory exercise books on Amazon, but you're likely to frustrate and upset your mom rather than train her to remember things. Once dementia reaches a certain stage, there is no more "reading comprehension".

Just let her be, that's my suggestion. Not everything in life can be fixed.

I don't know what level of anything your mother might be at?
Has your MD suggested this will be helpful? Has anyone else? Because to my knowledge it will not be, and forcing someone to work hard at something like that would perhaps be frustrating?

If you know more than I do on this one, hope you will write us about who suggested such exercises and what their purpose is. Would love a link to what you are suggesting.

Another thing to remember with ANY aging Dementia is that ANXIETY is your enemy. Things that make one anxious will make them worse, almost instantly. So make anything you do ENJOYABLE and FUN.

And much of this depends upon the level your mother is at. So I would discuss with MD, OT people, or google "Simple memory exercises for elders" and see what you come up with.

Hope when you have something you enjoy that seems helpful you will share it here.

I looked up ‘memory therapy aids’, and if you have a few spare weeks you could do the same!

I’d suggest having a look at the ‘children’s book’ section of the library. Lots of children’s books have a short passage per page, with a bigger illustration. It would be easy to give this option a try.