MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Recommendations? Books/stories to read to elderly dementia patients

haertig · 06-26-2020, 05:23 PM

I am looking for things to read to someone in the middle stages of dementia who has lost the ability to read on their own. I was thinking short stories, because holding their interest for very long is difficult. And I'm thinking simple, fun, easy to understand stories since mental processing power is no longer a strong point.

Does anyone have any suggestions for individual stories or collections of short stories? I would think ideal might be something that could be read in 20 minutes or so - one sitting, one story. Probably juvenile in complexity, but with some interesting stuff for someone 90+ years old. Then on to the next story at a later date. Trying to remember what happened during the previous reading session is probably too much to ask. Even shorter books that could be read in a few sittings might be OK, if the plots are simple and the characters few.

I was thinking some of the older stuff like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Treasure Island might work. Although it's been so long since I read those I can't remember how simple/difficult/long/short they are. I was a kid myself the last (and only) time I ventured into those.

06-26-2020, 05:23 PM	#1
haertig Wizard Posts: 1,897 Karma: 31522252 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: PW3, Fire HD8 Gen7, Moto G7, Sansa Clip v2, Ruizu X26	Recommendations? Books/stories to read to elderly dementia patients I am looking for things to read to someone in the middle stages of dementia who has lost the ability to read on their own. I was thinking short stories, because holding their interest for very long is difficult. And I'm thinking simple, fun, easy to understand stories since mental processing power is no longer a strong point. Does anyone have any suggestions for individual stories or collections of short stories? I would think ideal might be something that could be read in 20 minutes or so - one sitting, one story. Probably juvenile in complexity, but with some interesting stuff for someone 90+ years old. Then on to the next story at a later date. Trying to remember what happened during the previous reading session is probably too much to ask. Even shorter books that could be read in a few sittings might be OK, if the plots are simple and the characters few. I was thinking some of the older stuff like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Treasure Island might work. Although it's been so long since I read those I can't remember how simple/difficult/long/short they are. I was a kid myself the last (and only) time I ventured into those.