I was reading an article recently on multitasking and realized that it may be something good for most of us, but not for Alzheimer’s patients. It is hard enough to get dressed or eat breakfast without thinking about the next thing on the agenda, or, even worse, trying to get dressed and eat breakfast at the same time. Sometimes, it is difficult to remember that Mom or Dad can’t handle deciding on a trip to the store or the park while she or he is just sitting there eating. It can be really frustrating to realize that even simple multitasking can be too much, but what can you do if a brain simply can’t handle all that mental juggling we take for granted in our own lives?

Multipurpose Rooms

Thinking about multitasking made me think about something else: our tendency to have rooms with many functions. To minimize confusion, each area in the house should have a specific job. For example, the kitchen should be for preparing and eating food, not for creating crafts or wrapping gifts. Imagine wondering into the kitchen and eating that stuff on the plate, only to taste…fun foam and glue.

Of course, if the Alzheimer’s patient has been crafting at the kitchen table for years, you don’t want to change established routines. It is just important to avoid making new and confusing changes. Laundry rooms turning into potting areas, sun rooms becoming the dogs’ bedroom, etc. are all things we take for granted as we expand our interests and repurpose rooms. However, for an Alzheimer’s patient, they can just be another confusing thing in a frustrating world.

Posted by on 08.03.2007 • Caregiver Support