Keeping Busy: A Handbook of Activities for Persons with Dementia

Because of the many phrases, songs, games that refer to things anyone born from 1910 to 1950 might remember, it was exceedingly fun and appropriate to go through things with my TBI husband. We laughed and said, Have to sing that for our grandchildren" and reminded each other of the answers. I could see the author's view of older people not wanting to do, say, art, then speaking of their brother who painted, and gradually having a wonderful time. I had occasion to refer this book to someone whose mother was just diagnosed, and I did so enthusiastically. Makes me wonder what the dementia patients who were born past the 70s will have that's as much fun as these old songs and cliches. The trick is to play WITH the patients and listen to their resulting stories--don't just throw the book their direction.

I work in an assisted living residence for people with dementia and our goal is to engage our residents all day in meaningful activities. It is very challenging and has great rewards. This book's title, Keeping Busy, almost made me pass it by because we are focused on more than just keeping our residents 'busy'...we want them to enjoy themselves, and in fact to 'flourish' in our environment. I am glad that I purchased it because it has many delightful activities that in fact do much more than just keep people 'busy'.

The book has a great introduction on ALZ care. It was written from a nursing home standpoint and from that perspective it was probably very good. But what I was looking for was from an individual caregiver's standpoint. From that standpoint it was not what I expected, thus only 3 stars. A much better book is "36 Hour Day" for individual caregivers.Al from Denver CO

This is the best book I have found with ideas of activities at levels appropriate for persons with Dementia. The used book was delivered in "like new" shape at a good price. The book is not too short and not too long. Could be very useful for people who have a hard time filling time while visiting a relative/friend who has memory issues.

This book has helped me so much w/my Dad. I feel that the activities offered help him and he seems to enjoy doing them. This is a good thing for him and me too. I would suggest this book for anyone looking to create some active time for their loved one...It is a great buy for me and Dad.

Practical and approachable. I will be using this info with my family. The upbeat attitude reminded me to make each visit matter, and gave me tips for how to handle difficult days.

After checking this book from the library, I purchsed a copy as a reference. The author gives practicle activities which enable the caregiver and the patient to survive dementia with dignity.Other writings are more scientific and testimonial; This book gets us off our duff!

This is an excellent resource for ouradult day center, which specializes in adults with Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias. In fact, it is so good that I re-ordered to get enough copies for each of our staff to have their own. It is our unofficial "textbook".

This is written by a person who runs a care home and is really geared towards activities for groups of patients rather than one to one. However, there are ideas that can be used in the home environment and many useful insights into what works with dementia patients and what doesn't.It is very easy to read and full of common sense.

Very pleased with my purchase.Very pleased with the word games and music sections.It has given me many new ideas to use in my workplace.

Great reference book

dont know what I expected but this didn't 'grab' me... sorry

A very helpful book for anyone working with people with dementia (although English readers will need to adapt some of the American content)