Fidgeting REVOLUTIONIZES Dementia Care with Surprising Benefits

Hi everyone, I'm Lisa Skinner from Truth, Lies Alzheimer's, and I wanted to share with you that over the many, many years that I've been working with family members and caregivers of people who live with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, I have come across some of the most amazing products that would make your life a lot easier as a caregiver or a family member, and also will help with a lot of the behaviors that we see in people who live with these conditions. Uh, now I'm not sure if you're aware of this, you may be, that people living with dementia sometimes become restless or develop fidgeting behaviors as the condition develops. In some cases, fidget toys or twiddle muffs, as some of them are called, can be very helpful ways to relax the person and give them something to do with their hands. For example, my mother-in-law was one of the 7 family members in my world that had these fidgeting behaviors. As a matter of fact, there's a chapter dedicated to it in my book, Truth, Lies and Alzheimer's: Its Secret Faces. And what she habitually did was took a paper napkin and folded it into quarters and then opened up her purse, tucked it into her purse, closed the purse, took it out, and started all over again. And she would do this for hours. Now, that was back in the day where I don't even think fidget products were available. She just kind of found something that she liked to use her hands to do that calmed her down. But they're really designed, these products, are designed for people living with Alzheimer's disease and dementia because they do provide sensory stimulation through touch, sight, and sometimes you can find them that also have sound, which can help manage restlessness, anxiety, agitation, and other things that we see that surface as a result of these diseases. Which can help by giving them something to do, to actively manipulate with their hands, effectively calming their minds and improving their focus, essentially acting as a distraction from the discomfort and confusion associated with the disease. So some of the key points of these products is again for sensory engagement, which is really important for helping stimulate people with brain disease. They offer features, and I've got one here to show you. They come in very different shapes and sizes. And what they do is they feature different textures with buttons, zippers, or other tactile elements that engage the sense of touch, which can be particularly important for dementia patients experiencing memory decline. So as you can see on this sample, you've got different textiles, you've got buttons, 2, you've got 2 sides to this with different textures on it. Some of these things, if your loved one is— was a homemaker, perhaps they will recognize a lot of these things from, from when they were younger, and they like to sew or crochet or knit. So, basically, the goal of these is to provide a constructive activity for their hands. Fidget toys can help decrease fidgeting behaviors and the agitation that so commonly accompanies Alzheimer's disease and dementia. So those are just a few of the benefits that we have found to really ease some of the symptoms, the signs, the behaviors that we commonly see. They come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. I mentioned the Twiddle Muffin that's available. It looks like a muff. You put your hands in it and then there's things all over it that they can play with. And here's an example. This one I really like. Um, but what I want to emphasize is pick out the one that you think your loved one or the person you're caring for would enjoy the most based on the things that they were interested in and enjoyed doing when they were younger. And there are so many different varieties. They even have them that are created specifically for men with little nuts and bolts, and they things like that on it. So I'm gonna tell you in a second how you can access some of these products on my website. But I wanna show you this as another sample. This is actually an apron, and it ties around the person's neck, and that way it won't— they won't throw it off onto the floor, and it won't come off. And as you can see, and I'm gonna back up for a second here. You can see this one has lots of different things to fiddle with. I'll lift this up. So there's zippers, and there are all kinds of textiles on here, and there's a little purse that, that can be opened and closed. I like this one because it's hard to get off. So you can put this on your person. They have— they can play with these different fidget toys for hours and hours and hours. And then if you notice that they stop fidgeting, they may have lost interest and you can take it off. But anyway, go onto my website. And that is www.mindingdementia.com/products. And I've got a variety of different shapes and sizes on there. I've got the apron on there and a few more. I will be adding more in the future. But anyway, these products are amazing. I don't know what we did without them. And I have figured out that a lot of people aren't even aware that these products exist. So I am going to be demonstrating these on a regular basis, bringing them to your attention. And whatever you see that you think would fit into making your world as a caregiver or family member a little easier to bear, you can go on that website, www. Mindingdementia.com/products and pick up some of these amazing tools that are out there to, to keep your loved one or the person you're caring for less stressed and less anxious. Thanks for your time today, and I'll be back with another product.