Mom has dementia and lives in snf, but is still highly functioning and is bored and lonely. Tries to read but can’t get past first page. I️ thought maybe an audio book option, but don’t know what is the easiest/best way to provide that she will be able to operate. Also if a book is downloaded wifi is not necessary is that correct?
If you think she's capable of operating a Kindle, then no, wifi is not required to read a book on that device.
If it were me, I'd get the activity director involved in getting mom out of her room and into the activities going on in the SNF. Get her acquainted with the other residents who are at the same level of dementia she's at, so they'll be able to interact and talk together, eat meals, etc. That will help her loneliness better than any book ever could. That's what helped my mother tremendously; the socialization she had in her Memory Care ALF with the other residents. Even the ones she didn't like and complained about.........that gave her something to DO and others to focus her limited attention span on. And the arts & crafts they did together in the activity room really kept her amused.
Best of luck.
What does work are TV game shows! I really don't like them, but discovered that Mom can follow along with "the price is right" or most other trivial game shows. Not jeopardy or anything like that, but the simple ones where they are doing something "in the moment" and not having to remember anything that happened a bit ago. And the lively, colorful nature of these shows is also a good thing. Nothing scary or concerning, it's all light and cheery.
I introduced her to Postmodern Jukebox. lol
Maybe best to give her books with large pictures and just a little text, maybe not a story to follow. My 100-year old Aunt loves cat and bird books with 1 large pic per page that gives info about the animal. She reads them over and over.
Maybe just a tv in her room set on the Animal Planet channel for the aids to turn on for her.
An audiobook would require wifi to download the book initially but after that it's on the device and shouldn't be a problem to use by someone who can remember how.
My 93-yr old mother just transitioned to my iPad and plays card games on it a lot. She doesn't have cognitive or memory impairment and was using a different Android tablet for many years prior to switching.
My 88-yr old MIL in LTC has significant memory loss and has started "reading" large print romance novels. We're not sure she gets past the first page. Picture books are the best. Or a cd player for music, but again, someone else will need to turn it on for her.
My roommate has cognitive issues and is literally driving me crazy as he shadows me with repetitive conversation. It wouldn’t be such a problem if I didn’t have my own health issues.
I will introduce him to my iPad today. Thanks again, such an easy fix that slipped my slipping mind.
Sending ❤️ love.
It would give your mother a purposeful task and would be a help to the project.
for her its the length of the story. Max 1 paragraph.
See All Answers