[DuckieTigger]

Wow, did not really expect this thread to take off like this. I do appreciate all the helpful input. I think I will go with the K4 for my MIL, and if she does not like it then I will take it back and find some use for it. Either way, I will post an update about how it worked out (or did not work out).

Originally Posted by xendula

If you get the basic kindle, make sure you get the black one. It has better contrast and a more pleasant background than the silver.

Thank you for the tip. I have done some research on here about this even before posting this thread - the title including the black part was no accident. I see however that the black version won't ship for one or two weeks (???) - probably for the reason that everybody wants the black knowing it is newer model. Is the old silver model mentioned here on MR the same as the graphite? This graphite is in stock and would ship right away - maybe I take my chances, and if it does not look good, I will ask for a black replacement. Or is the wait definitely worth it to eliminate possible trouble right away?

I never wanted a touch device, and now that I have been using the PW, my poor basic kindles are collecting dust.

It is very unlikely that she will use a PW unless we let her use it.

Originally Posted by silverraven

My 85(almost 86) year old non-tech mom hates touch screens!! She is constantly accidentally touching it, making page turn, bringing up menus. She got rid of her Sony T1. She has very severe arthritis in her hands, by the way. She LOVES her K4NT. The buttons just make sense in her brain. She has no problem pushing the buttons to turn pages. She uses it daily, for hours at a time.
S

My instincts told me, that a touch-screen might not be a good idea. Exactly for the reasons to have to aim right and no haptile feedback at all. That is why I mentioned that in the original post. I am glad to hear that the buttons may work for some even with (severe) arthritis.

Originally Posted by Lutraa

Have you talked to your MIL's occupational or physical therapist about this? (Assuming she has one.) If she has age-related dementia -- the disappearing memory you refer to -- it is going to be difficult for her to learn new skills. So the simplest eReader will be the best for her. A touch screen probably won't be easy to master if she's never used a device that doesn't have physical buttons. Also, unless she'll have someone like you or your wife nearby to help, it could be very frustrating for her if she gets "lost" while using the device, e.g. navigates to the wrong page or wrong book and can't figure out how to get back.

For medical problems she has I will be brief, and that is is as far as I am comfortable discussing it. She has no therapist that she sees regularly even though she possibly could benefit from it. Unfortunately that is not up for discussion with her . Her memory is worse than the normal age-related dementia should be, and in my non-professional opinion it is much worse than the average person her age.

Learning new skills is not easy for her - we are not completely sure if it is her being stubborn, unwilling to learn, incapable, or resistant to change. If something tickles her interest though, she does seam to understand better and remember better. I agree that teaching her to use a touchscreen might be way over our heads. Yes we can help her, see last part of my post below.

We on this forum love our eReaders but in your MIL's case it may be more humane to get her large print books from your library than to give her a device she won't be able to use. That's why I think a professional opinion would be helpful. OTOH, K4s are easy to resell if it doesn't work out.

Large print books are not an option. She stopped reading because the books became too hard for her to read - and some of them are in large print. The one (large print paper back) that I think she is trying to read looks harder to read than even my PRS-300. I am jealous of my wifes KT, and I want to upgrade, but I want a PW - so I will wait until it ships again (dec 19 hopefully - yay). Maybe that is just me, but I do enjoy and expect every book to look the same anymore. The wonder of e-readers and beeing spoiled by them: set the font, size, line spacing, margin once and forget about it - no matter if you just switch from one book to the next in a series, or change authors / publisher - same look and feel. As I said above, if it doesn't work out, I will keep the K4 for myself as a spare or maybe to take to work - if it breaks or gets dirty it is not that big a deal. My Sony looks really dirty, especially in all the edges it has.

Just plan to help her through the first few days of use and be ready to give it up if it proves to be too frustrating for her -- those with dementia experience plenty of frustration already without feeling pressured to learn new skills when their short term memory is essentially non-functional.

Fortunately we are in walking distance as she lives nearby - we already plan for having to show her over and over and over again until she got it. The frustrating part would be on our end, not on hers. She is too stubborn to be frustrated about something she does not want to learn. She would simply give up, and then complain to us for trying to confuse her. Been there done that . I rather she asks us every day about some thing or another, than to give up on reading, though.