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Old 08-23-2019, 01:21 PM   #16
stumped
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i have to question whether someone with dementia could read and understand reminders on a screen. Thinking back to my mum - she could not have coped with that.

We tried the low tech route of- a big whiteboard and dry-write pens in her kitchen which family could write reminders on when visiting, but it was not very successful - and that was with a classroom sized whiteboard!

Maybe the reason that the ready made dementia solutions don't have them, is not that it can't be done, but that research and customer feedback taught them not to bother.

From what I read, the reason analogue clock displays work is because that is what those people grew up with. They need solutions that stimulate childhood memories/pattern recognition that still works, even when they have lost the ability to learn new patterns - like digital time displays.
So someone my age or older who did not grow up with electronic reminders may never adapt to using them.

having said that, the feedback from Alexa/ Ok google in residential care homes was interesting. Maybe some sufferers can learn to ask Alexa what time is it and understand the response.

Why not write to some of the sellers/suppliers on amazon saying l like your [ dementia clock/ calendar/ whatever] but do you have one that also does reminders?
you may learn something from the replies and it costs nothing to ask.
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Old 08-23-2019, 09:59 PM   #17
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I appreciate all the suggestions and sharing of personal experience!

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i have to question whether someone with dementia could read and understand reminders on a screen. Thinking back to my mum - she could not have coped with that.
There are all different levels of dementia. You don't go from normal to catatonic overnight. Usually the progression takes years, but the rapidity depends on what age you were diagnosed at. Someone diagnosed at age 70 may live for 20 years. Someone diagnosed at 90 may live for two. There are other factors besides age that determine how quickly someone will go downhill. And it also varies from person to person what will be affected. Some will not be able to bathe or take care of personal hygiene. Others will be able to take care of that just fine, right up to the end, but won't be able to do a simple math problem.

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We tried the low tech route of- a big whiteboard and dry-write pens in her kitchen which family could write reminders on when visiting, but it was not very successful - and that was with a classroom sized whiteboard!
Too many events would certainly get confusing. What I am trying, and we'll see if it works, is a display that only shows events for the current day. Which is typically one or two events, maybe three on an extremely busy day.

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From what I read, the reason analogue clock displays work is because that is what those people grew up with.
Being able to read an analog clock is typically one of the early things to go. As a matter of fact, there is a standard "Mini Mental Status Exam" that is used everywhere and one of the questions relates to analog clock use. The question is some variation of, "Draw me a circle. Now draw in the hour and minute hands so that it reads ten minutes past eleven". The ability to do that typically goes very early in dementia. They can read an existing analog clock for a while longer though. The ability to use a digital clock usually lasts longer than analog. But each person is different.

The problem I am trying to deal with right now is very specific. For the stage of dementia we're at, looking at a normal calendar that shows activities for a week or a month, combined with not knowing what day it is, leads to pretty bad confusion. Time is not an issue, it is day/date that is being forgotten. My attempts to help are to (1) Make it very easy and clear to see what day/date it is, and (2) cut back the length of the visible calendar to only one or two days (that automatically update) so that the person with dementia does not have to sort through a ton of entries to find the ones for the current day. Currently, abbreviations are still OK, but I suspect that soon that will get confusing. So I'm coding in display formats like "Friday, August 23" and not "Fri, Aug 23".

BTW, there have been three Echo Dots with Alexa in use for two years now. It's easy to ask for the day and date ... once they remember to actually do that. They can also ask, "Alexa, what's on my calendar" or "Alexa, what's my next event." But after I set all that up two years ago, they have not done it, even once. But there have been lots of "Alexa, what is the weather?" and "Alexa, set an alarm for 8am". It's funny how some commands are remembered and used easily, and others seem impossible to remember. Just one of those dementia things I guess. Using the Dots to control her Fire TV (I set that up too!) saying something like "Alexa, Play Cheers" is spotty. Sometimes that is remembered, sometimes not. The biggest issue there was switching the TV input. There are like 3 HDMI inputs, some Component inputs, AUX inputs, antenna inputs ... that is almost impossible for a normal person to figure out, much less one with dementia. The last thing anyone supporting an elderly person wants to hear is "The TV is saying 'no signal' again!" I ended up buying a simple hardware A/B HDMI switch. A single pushbutton - push once to go from A to B, push again to go from B to A. So she uses that to switch from cable input to FireTV input. That works. Mostly.

Being able to try different things to see what works, or alter things as the dementia worsens, is why I am leaning towards the more complex calendar design with a monitor and Raspberry Pi to drive it. Now I just have to work on keeping myself from getting dementia so that I can continue to be able to write programs like this!

p.s. - The level of dementia I am trying to help with right now would be termed "moderate". The person is still in "independent living", but in a senior facility that provides meals, activities, maid service, 24 hour concierge, etc. Eventually "assisted living" may become necessary, and after that, possibly "memory care" (which is similar to the older term "nursing home", but targeted specifically at dementia, not just physical frailness - which usually goes along with it at the end).
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Old 08-24-2019, 01:37 AM   #18
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I think you are on the right track with writing your own...

alexa:
in my own setup - samsung tv + FIRE tv, Alexa paired to fire tv, Alexa will turn on the tv and select the correct source - so will simply pressing home on fire TV remote. Much of that is down to how the TV maker has implemented CEC, and what else is connected
e.g. my samsung goes nuts if I connect a chromecast, it learns that then forgets all about fire TV... i can manually use Fire TV still but I lose all the auto start/ auto select stuff

Alexa needs a lot more work e.g. from memory "alexa play xxx on Fire TV" works ( and TV is turned on as a side effect, but "alexa turn on TV" gets you " I cant do that"

Same with my xbox . I think "open Xbox" works but not " turn on Xbox" or maybe its vice versa- either way its takes 5 times as long as walking across he room and pressing the ON button !

With both Alexa and OK Google there's an acute shortage of verbs , and logic:
- you" play" music - OK that's intuitive; you "play" a TV show? well ok but then some songs and shows share a name ;you "play" a device - really?? so you "open" a device??? - when was the last time you "opened" your TV ?. Oh and you also "play " an app or channel - Alexa " play you tube on Fire TV" - confused yet
I am, & I don't even have dementia yet

personally: I play music., I Watch TV, I open apps, I turn devices on & off.

There's an obvious market for an Alexa dementa skill set, maybe linked to some customizable nurse name e.g. Alexa ask Nurse <Jane>" would invoke the skill which would then understand many permutations of time/ weather/calendar/date plus turn on radio / TV....
I wonder how hard it is to write your own skill ?

Last edited by stumped; 08-24-2019 at 01:41 AM.
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Old 08-28-2019, 05:17 PM   #19
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Watching someone with even mild dementia try to work a touchscreen (swipe, tap, pinch, tap-n-hold, fling) would not be a pretty sight. Even when not trying to work it, just accidentally bumping into it, they could easily send an app to some unknown and unexpected screen that would totally confuse someone with dementia. We're talking people who have trouble reading their wristwatch. Using a touchscreen? Might as well ask them to pilot a fighter jet while you're at it. Dementia is a very sad thing.


Dementia + hearing loss + concentration needed for an audiobook = not a pretty sight either. Music is better, especially old songs that they know. Old TV shows that they used to watch, now on rerun, are good too. For a while. But pretty soon, even that gets to be too much for them to process.
I Know that BUT No one knows how each person reacts & NAs that are around you mom will be able to tell when has had enough & switch or turn it off. BTW She wont be the one working it!
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Old 08-29-2019, 11:34 PM   #20
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I Know that BUT No one knows how each person reacts & NAs that are around you mom will be able to tell when has had enough & switch or turn it off. BTW She wont be the one working it!
She's in independent living. A senior retirement center with activities, 24x7 concierge, very nice dining room, movies, day trips, overseas trips, maid service, transportation, etc. The place has independent living, assisted living, rehab, skilled nursing, and memory care separate buildings. The plan being for people to be able to age in place (but sometimes they'll move from one building to another next door).

But once in her apartment, she is independent currently. Albeit having a bit of trouble sorting through a calendar and remembering what day it is. There are three published calendars at this senior center for a total of one to two dozen events to choose from each day. Of which she may be interested in only two or three of those. It is difficult, even for me, to flip through three calendars to see what to do, and what overlaps. People can still be independent with mild dementia. Some things - in this case a complex calendar - can be problematic though. I'm trying to help with the problematic things. Earlier, I mentioned the inability to use a modern touchscreen. Not many 90 year olds can do that, even if they don't have dementia.

I finally implemented a 23" wall mounted screen driven by a Raspberry Pi that auto updates with the current days activities of interest, that have been culled from the much bigger daily calendar. Here's an example display. Imagine it on a large computer screen, where the time (in yellow) has numbers over 2 inches high, and that's what I ended up making:
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Old 09-04-2019, 09:12 PM   #21
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IF she has a TV in her apt the place she staying should have a Channel that it can be switch to so she can see whats happening.
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Old 09-05-2019, 12:20 PM   #22
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They do. But the problem is, it lists all activities. That's maybe two dozen per day. And then they add in all the daily special choices on the dinner menus, birthday announcements, upcoming major events on future days, etc. It takes a good five minutes of more to watch a days activities scroll by. And to try and figure out which ones you are interested in, and write them down, is a real chore.
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