Mental stimulation?

[Frank H]

My wife has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers. It has been suggested to me that playing games/working on puzzles together on an i-pad gives useful mental stimulation. Anyone had any experience/comments on this?

 

[kindred]

My wife has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers. It has been suggested to me that playing games/working on puzzles together on an i-pad gives useful mental stimulation. Anyone had any experience/comments on this?

Welcome to our lovely forum.
When my husband was diagnosed, we spent a lovely year or so working through puzzle books intended for children, crosswords, dot to dot, quizzes, spot the difference etc. It kept some writing skills going. You can get these easily online, just google children’s puzzle books. we used to work together in the local cafe on these books and it was like we were students together again.
Warmest, Kindred.

 

[Frank H]

Welcome to our lovely forum.
When my husband was diagnosed, we spent a lovely year or so working through puzzle books intended for children, crosswords, dot to dot, quizzes, spot the difference etc. It kept some writing skills going. You can get these easily online, just google children’s puzzle books. we used to work together in the local cafe on these books and it was like we were students together again.
Warmest, Kindred.

Thank you Kindred. Perhaps I am jumping forward unnecessarily to the high-tech stuff - I shall certainly try the puzzle books. Hopefully our local cafe's will be open soon and we too can try to be students again.
Warmest wishes, Frank

 

[karaokePete]

Hello @Frank H you are welcome here and I hope you find the forum to be a friendly and supportive place.

Ever since my wife's diagnosis I have encouraged her to do puzzles and games. I find it helps with not just a little stimulation but also with keeping her from dwelling on her situation and raising her self esteem. The funny thing is that my wife has moved away from books and now only uses her phone and ipad for the games - she can no longer use the tech for it's actual purpose but can play the games. Indeed, my wife no longer knows that the phone is a 'phone' and just calls it her red thing(the colour of the case). One word of warning though, as my wife's cognition has been lost all sorts of ads, links etc., are hit so all sorts of junk can get on the devices and the user can get into a bit of a pickle when the games get lost in the mess!

I hope you have time to take a good look around the site as it is a goldmine for information. When I first joined I read old threads for information but then found the AS Publications list and the page where a post code search can be done to check for support services in ones own area. If you are interested in these, clicking the following links will take you there

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/publications-factsheets-full-list

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/find-support-near-you

You will see that there are Factsheets that will help with things like getting care needs assessments, deciding the level of care required and sorting out useful things like Wills, Power of Attorney etc., if any of that hasn't already been done.

When society opens up again you may find the local support useful. As my forum name suggests, I like to sing and I find singing 'awakens' my wife and stimulates her to an extent that I see her as she always was when I sing with her. Indeed, I often put karaoke tracks up on the computer and my wife will either sing along or dance while I sing - it's something we both enjoy. There are often things this 'singing for the brain' to be found around the country.

Now that you have found us I hope you will keep posting as the membership has vast collective knowledge and experience.

I wish both of you all the best.