We need help choosing a tv
- Thread starter Kennedystreet
- Start date
In my experience, it isnt the TV that is so much the problem but the remote control...! There is a recent thread about this. I bought an RNIB remote which just has a few simple buttons and which until recently she has managed to turn on and off. She is now not able to do this anymore but I am assuming he is still at the stage where he can manage it.
The only other problems for us has been that she unplugs the TV from the wall as she doesnt understand what the blinking red light is.
Do give us a bit more info and I am sure someone else can provide help.
The only other problems for us has been that she unplugs the TV from the wall as she doesnt understand what the blinking red light is.
Do give us a bit more info and I am sure someone else can provide help.
I think anything new with different controls is asking for trouble. If you can get a TV with the same type of remote your dad uses now, he should be all right.
Perhaps if you took the remote with you when you buy the TV, the staff can help you.
Perhaps if you took the remote with you when you buy the TV, the staff can help you.
Yes it is the remote my MIL has problems with as well. In fact horrible as it sounds we do not allow her to have it (she lives with us) because when she has it, she, by accident put the sound to a level we did not know it reached! Locked it and it took us hours to unlock it as we didn't know it had that feature. The things she has done I could write a thesis on! Anyway she always wants the news as she forgets she watches it and can not follow any other programme
As I said in another post, I could become a BBC news reader as we watch it from the moment she gets up to when she goes to bed!
Anyway I hope you get it sorted
1954 x
As I said in another post, I could become a BBC news reader as we watch it from the moment she gets up to when she goes to bed!
Anyway I hope you get it sorted
1954 x
If it is just the remote control that is the problem, this site has one with just a few buttons...http://www.alzproducts.co.uk/alzheimers-simple-remote-controls.html
Fiona
Fiona
Some previous discussions that may be of interest:
Ideas for a simple to use TV
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?54333
Simple TV remote
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?14246
TV design features
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?45096&p=593401&viewfull=1#post593401
Ideas for a simple to use TV
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?54333
Simple TV remote
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?14246
TV design features
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?45096&p=593401&viewfull=1#post593401
Two possible fixes to that one:
a) A lockable plug cover to make it difficult to pull the plug - e.g. from recent thread:
Electrical safety
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?57125
Plug sockets
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?59774
b) a bit of tape to conceal the blinking red light.
Nothing's ever completely foolproof, but might be worth a try.
Some possible fixes to that (other than 'live with her and don't give her the remote' - also a good option):
The Sony RM-KZ1T remote control (discontinued, though possible if not easy to obtain) lets you disable the volume control (or any button) programmatically - so you can choose to let the user turn the TV on and off and select channels, but not let them adjust the volume.
Some TVs have a 'hotel mode', or are marketed as 'hotel TVs'. This lets you do things like limit the volume (so hotel guests can't disturb the neighbours), or disable other settings you don't want guests messing with (like changing the colour balance), or disable the on-set controls (so the guest has to pay the hotel extra for a remote to use the TV). These features may be present but not documented in the general consumer manual; use with care.
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I agree that the simplified remotes are good but I found that with Mum she didn't understand the volume up and down and channel up and down icons. Ditto with the DVD and video controls (pause, fast forward, stop etc.)
I had to carefully cut slivers of adhesive label and write the function (vol up, pause etc.) with a very fine-tipped pen.
I had to carefully cut slivers of adhesive label and write the function (vol up, pause etc.) with a very fine-tipped pen.
Attachments
New tricks...
I think the problem is that it is very hard for someone with a dementia to learn new skills, and operating a remote control which is different even if simplified can be difficult.
We programmed the TV for my mother so that she could watch all "her" programmes every day. This worked fine until she switched the TV off and forgot that she had switched it off and how to switch it back on again.
I have grown very suspicious of products marketed for people with dementia, often the blurbs appeal to our understanding (easy/simple/big buttons/clearer script) rather than the reality of the person with the dementia where habits are ingrained, emotional responses can be refreshed or renewed but learning seems to stop happening. Also isn't it strange that the electronic items without the super snazzy features tend to cost more?
I confess I have been guilty of clutching at straws, thinking that buying this or that might help to "cure" the problem of not knowing the day, the week, the season, how to work an appliance. I'm beginning to accept that my mother's dementia is a fact to be faced and not a problem that I can solve.
I think the problem is that it is very hard for someone with a dementia to learn new skills, and operating a remote control which is different even if simplified can be difficult.
We programmed the TV for my mother so that she could watch all "her" programmes every day. This worked fine until she switched the TV off and forgot that she had switched it off and how to switch it back on again.
I have grown very suspicious of products marketed for people with dementia, often the blurbs appeal to our understanding (easy/simple/big buttons/clearer script) rather than the reality of the person with the dementia where habits are ingrained, emotional responses can be refreshed or renewed but learning seems to stop happening. Also isn't it strange that the electronic items without the super snazzy features tend to cost more?
I confess I have been guilty of clutching at straws, thinking that buying this or that might help to "cure" the problem of not knowing the day, the week, the season, how to work an appliance. I'm beginning to accept that my mother's dementia is a fact to be faced and not a problem that I can solve.
thanks for the lockable plug and tape suggestion nmintueo. I will definitely try that as she does still remove the plugs and the tv socket from the wall with great regularity. And Dizzy the remote you showed is the one I bought. It did work for her really well for about 18 months but her ability to now press any button has diminished so the staff at the home turn it on and off for her. 
I agree there are never solutions, only little fixes which sometimes make things easier for a while.
I agree there are never solutions, only little fixes which sometimes make things easier for a while.I have found with my Mam there are no fixes.
Not only is she not able to learn, she is fast losing the skills she once had.
I spend half my life going back over to put ITV3 on and when I do it, she switches the telly off because it's rude to have the TV on when you have company and she hasn't seen me for weeks.
Not only is she not able to learn, she is fast losing the skills she once had.
I spend half my life going back over to put ITV3 on and when I do it, she switches the telly off because it's rude to have the TV on when you have company and she hasn't seen me for weeks.
Neither of my parents can work their TV remote properly. Mums the one with AD.
We hid the main TV remote and gave them the Sky remote only which Dad takes charge of, but it never ceases to amaze me how both of them find the TV remote and use it, switch certain buttons and then the Sky won't work. Or Mum will press the off button on the Sky, because she thinks she is switching the TV off.
My teenage son is often over there fixing their TV.
I think I will have to tape over certain buttons and take their TV remote permanently.
I bought Mum a new microwave a month ago with less buttons as she is no longer using the stove.
It has a 10 min, 1 min and 1 sec button. Stop & Start. I taped over the 10 min button.
She hasn't used it yet.......
We hid the main TV remote and gave them the Sky remote only which Dad takes charge of, but it never ceases to amaze me how both of them find the TV remote and use it, switch certain buttons and then the Sky won't work. Or Mum will press the off button on the Sky, because she thinks she is switching the TV off.
My teenage son is often over there fixing their TV.
I think I will have to tape over certain buttons and take their TV remote permanently.
I bought Mum a new microwave a month ago with less buttons as she is no longer using the stove.
It has a 10 min, 1 min and 1 sec button. Stop & Start. I taped over the 10 min button.
She hasn't used it yet.......
