"Snow-flattened green", by Susie Mallett, March 2010There is another interesting article in this week's Weekly Guardian, this time in the Weekly Review.
Chris Arnot writes, in "Pictures of health", about a set of books used for encouraging conversation and to wake up memories.
The article describes books that where first developed by Helen Bates, architect and illustrator, to encourage conversation between her ten-year old son and her mother who was developing demetia.
It describes much the same things that I do in my stroke and multiple sclerosis groups to encourage delving deep into locked-away memories, and then to talk about them.
I use photographs, paintings and series of images to develop communication skills and use of more abstract thinking, and to encourage the use of the imagination.
The project written about in the Guardian Weekly and now put in to action in six care homes in England, is called "Pictures to share".
Chris Arnot writes that this project is:
" a combination of striking images coupled with a few lines of large-print text to stimulate memories of past pleasures and experiences. One of the books is called Beside the Seaside, hence the importation of beach-balls and sand.
Other titles include In the Garden, Women's Work, A Sporting Life and A Funny Old World."
I looked them up in the Internet and discovered that there are many more titles. You can even flip through the pages to make choosing your title easier.
While I was browsing around this site I discovered that under "resources" on the left-hand side of the page there were links to You Tube. It is hoped that these selected clips will stimulate conversations and spark the memories of the clients, just as the books do.
Here on the You Tube links I found my old favourite, Louis Armstrong, and it is here that I found him singing the title of the posting: "We have all the time in the world"
I was sorting through my files the other day, the ones containing all the pictures that I have collected over the years, all glued on to separate pieces of card and kept in individual plastic sleeves. I was looking for appropriate images to use with my new stroke client.
It seems that yet again I may have missed the boat, but on the other hand maybe I have just been given more reassurance that even without making it on to the boat I am on the right track.
What I have been using with my clients for years has popped up its head in a project in care homes in Coventry, in central England.
I will not be investing in any of these very nice looking books, although I am very interested to hear from anyone who is using them in their work.
I will stick to the hand-made versions though, if there is at some time a bit of spare cash in the pot, I may be able to put my pictures into little books instead of being stuck on separate pieces of card.
Notes
Guardian Weekly -
5-11 March, 2010, Weekly Review
1 comment:
Same applies here.
I can not get the links to work, if anyone is interested then it will have be a cut and paste job again.
I will leave out any links in future postings until I work out what I am doing wrong or until blogger behaves as it did before!
Thanks Andrew, for pointing out the problem.
Post a Comment