Submitted by Bailey Kemp AD, CDP, Life Enrichment Director at Meadows Communities
I am privileged to share with you the amazing response of using multi-sensory stimulation with patients that have dementia. What is multi-sensory stimulation? It involves using the senses of taste, smell, sight, hearing, and touch to interact and elicit a response from an individual with dementia. Some benefits to individuals with dementia have been recognized with the use of sensory stimulation: a calming effect, the opportunity to keep an individual engaged with cognitive activities, and elicited responses and reactions to a presented cause or stimulation.
I have witnessed some amazing responses to multi-sensory stimulation programs from residents in Memory Care at Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community. A resident with dementia who can no longer walk, speak, or feed himself has headphones on and is moving back and forth in his wheel chair, tapping his toes to the sound of music, and smiling in response.
A resident who is very anxious and wants something to do with her hands is provided the opportunity to fold clothes and sweep the floor alongside a staff member. She was a homemaker for much of her life, and these activities feel purposeful and routine. The experience of feeling texture while folding and the use of cognition to sweep help to calm her.
Another individual who is anxious responds well to sorting things. A specially designed multi-sensory work board provides him the opportunity to sort buttons, work locks and keys, and put pieces of PVC pipe together. He’d worked as a carpenter, and these activities stimulate his mind and relieve his anxiety. Further, the benefit of this type of stimulation may help to maintain or improve his current cognitive level, because it’s true — “If you don’t use it, you lose it!”
Individuals who are normally non-responsive verbally or physically will put their hand on a cat or dog to touch the soft coat and interact with the animal. Putting lotion on an individual’s hands and rubbing it in softly feels good to the patient and may calm feelings of anxiety. A non-responsive resident may also respond well to different optical stimulations, using their eyes to follow objects and colors.
Stimulating the senses of taste and smell are also effective ways to utilize multi-sensory stimulation. Providing something warm, cold, sweet, or sour to eat may be effective in calming an individual with dementia. Foods with a familiar smell or taste may produce memories of something their mother used to cook.
When an individual with dementia can no longer verbalize normally or exhibits anxious behaviors, it is often thought that nothing can be done to calm or engage the individual. The use of multi-sensory stimulation is proving to provide benefits; benefits which are significant and meaningful to the individual with dementia as well as family members and those providing care. Multi-sensory stimulation helps the individual feel loved, purposeful, productive, and happy — resulting in improved quality of life.
Meadows offers a full range of senior living options: Independent Living, Independent Living — Plus!, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing Care, Memory Care, Respite Care, and Achieve! Wellness and Rehab Therapy. Meadows has two locations: Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community in Chenoa and Meadows at Mercy Creek in Normal. To learn more about senior living options at Meadows, visit www.meadowscommunities.org.
Photo credit: KatarzynaBialasiewicz/iStock