Not eveything is forgotten

Helly68

Registered User
Mar 12, 2018
1,685
0
A thing I noticed.
My mum has middle stage dementia and is in a residential home after a hospitalization and steep decline. She is often asleep and I was sitting by her wondering how much she takes in as I chatter on..

I don't know why i did it, but looking out at the weather I said " now is the winter of our discontent" a line from Shakespeare Richard Third. Quick as a flash she smiled and said "made gloroius" which is the start of the next line in the play. I was stunned. This is one of the few things she has said with context in the last few weeks.

I know she always loved drama and acting and must have remembered the lines. am resolved to read a bit of a play to her the next time I am there. Poems sometimes work too ad she will repeat a line she remembers

You just never know......
 

marionq

Registered User
Apr 24, 2013
6,449
0
Scotland
Yes. We were sitting in a city restaurant a while ago and it was festooned with lovely things. John looked around him and from a point of no conversation said “quinquerine of Nineveh from distant Ophir” which is a line from JohnMasefield’s Cargoes.

I nearly fell off my seat. We then tried to remember the rest of the poem and he knew more than I did.
 

Helly68

Registered User
Mar 12, 2018
1,685
0
Maybe something here about being made to learn poems or the lines of a play, to say out loud, who knows.
It is at times like these, with happiness, sadness and every other emotion you see the people they are ,once were and can still sometimes be. Or not.....probably quite a few apt Shakespeare quotes for that.....
 

karaokePete

Registered User
Jul 23, 2017
6,534
0
N Ireland
Ah yes, learning by rote! Rote learning creates very strong recall by memory. Not so good for development of cognitive skills. I presume that is why poems, plays, times tables may still be remembered by people with dementia.
Even if what is quoted cannot be applied to everyday tasks it must surely be a good thing if the quoting helps to maintain the persons feeling of self worth.
I think it would be a great idea to read plays etc., and must remember this for the future as my wife's language and memory skills seem to get worse by the day.
 

marionq

Registered User
Apr 24, 2013
6,449
0
Scotland
John and I learned by rote in our respective primary schools and are forever grateful for the recall of poems, multiplication tables, grammar rules, Shakespeare plays et al. My mother in her eighties was a whiz with numbers, especially percentages, learned at primary school.

Although John continued to educate himself in a variety of ways he earned his living on building sites as a carpenter but his interest in poetry and language enriched his working day while working his socks off.

Some of it is still in there I'm sure.
 

Nandi

Registered User
Mar 20, 2018
28
0
Grimsby
You never know what is being absorbed things u think not can suddenly come out making you wonder if this is put on I am sure we have always wondered or is this just only me
 

Spamar

Registered User
Oct 5, 2013
7,723
0
Suffolk
OH was very good remembering poetry, and bits of Shakespeare, much better than me! But his sayings did give me an interest in poetry, though I still can’t remember any, much less quote reams of it!
 

brambles

Registered User
Sep 22, 2014
257
0
NW England
I remember my great aunt with advanced dementia reciting " The charge of the light brigade" loudly and accurately on her deathbed.
 

Nutty Nan

Registered User
Nov 2, 2003
801
0
Buckinghamshire
What an uplifting thread and important point! When 'normal' communication appears to be lost, it is so easy to assume that 'all is lost'. Yet, such sporadic and impromptu responses must encourage us never, ever to give up, or to try whatever we can think of to find that elusive connection,that brief moment of light and recognition that is worth celebrating.
 

Helly68

Registered User
Mar 12, 2018
1,685
0
Well, it cheered me and reminded me that reading or talking about things that have meant something to Mummy can and do engage her. Poems and play speeches are short, so she doesn't have to concentrate too long and the themes are diverse and not too childish. Singing is good too or listening to music. I read research where dementia workers used music when getting people up for the day. The idea is you choose songs they remember as a young adult and it makes activities more positive.
 

Reman

Registered User
Jan 21, 2018
27
0
A thing I noticed.
My mum has middle stage dementia and is in a residential home after a hospitalization and steep decline. She is often asleep and I was sitting by her wondering how much she takes in as I chatter on..

I don't know why i did it, but looking out at the weather I said " now is the winter of our discontent" a line from Shakespeare Richard Third. Quick as a flash she smiled and said "made gloroius" which is the start of the next line in the play. I was stunned. This is one of the few things she has said with context in the last few weeks.

I know she always loved drama and acting and must have remembered the lines. am resolved to read a bit of a play to her the next time I am there. Poems sometimes work too ad she will repeat a line she remembers

You just never know......
 

Reman

Registered User
Jan 21, 2018
27
0
A thing I noticed.
My mum has middle stage dementia and is in a residential home after a hospitalization and steep decline. She is often asleep and I was sitting by her wondering how much she takes in as I chatter on..

I don't know why i did it, but looking out at the weather I said " now is the winter of our discontent" a line from Shakespeare Richard Third. Quick as a flash she smiled and said "made gloroius" which is the start of the next line in the play. I was stunned. This is one of the few things she has said with context in the last few weeks.

I know she always loved drama and acting and must have remembered the lines. am resolved to read a bit of a play to her the next time I am there. Poems sometimes work too ad she will repeat a line she remembers

You just never know......
Odd isn't it, my OH beat me in university challenge last week (admittedly we can only answer 5/6 questions), but hasn't a clue what day it is, or can not name what part of his body is hurting!
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
I was told that music, rhythm and poetry is stored in a different part of the brain so that people with even very advanced dementia can respond to it and even join in.
Its a good way of accessing old memories through a different route
 

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