Memory Books and Other Graphic Cuing Systems: Practical Communication and Memory Aids for Adults with Dementia

Abstract

MEMORY BOOKS AND OTHER GRAPHIC CUING SYSTEMS: PRACTICAL COMMUNICATION AND MEMORY AIDS FOR ADULTS WITH DEMENTIA Michelle S. Bourgeois, PhD Baltimore: Health Professions Press, 2007, 144 pp., $32.95 (softcover). Michelle Bourgeois is a professor of communication disorders at Florida State University, highly experienced in the development of practical methods to help demented persons function well. Her principal programmatic design be understood, to use her terminology, as a memory aid booklet containing easily recognized cues. She terms this a memory wallet or memory book. Early memory wallets, as she first described them in a 1992 publication, were too large, too heavy, and for persons to carry. This new publication describes up-to-date modifications of the memory wallet and is also intended to help certified nursing assistants and family members assist their charges more effectively. The author's critical message is easily understood: Think of the memory aid as a prosthetic device to help the individual to remember better-like eyeglasses help people to see better. . . . With a memory aid, the memory impaired individual function independently. She keep the memory aid in her purse . . . pulling it out when her thoughts are jumbled (p. 11). This slim volume of 118 pages, published in an 8.5-by 11-inch format, combines analysis of research studies (primarily those of the author), with practical means to construct the memory aid. While the contents have the appearance of an easy-to-read book, replete with pictures and drawings, it would be an error to assume that the material is simplified. To the contrary, a reader eager to work in the field of dementia treatment will learn practical and effective methods to help demented persons improve their daily lives. ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXT Dr. Bourgeois has organized her material coherently. Memory aids be used to enhance conversation and orientation; enable demented men and women to improve their capacity to communicate wants, needs, and safety concerns; increase engagement with others; and participate with greater pleasure in a wide range of activities. A significant component of the book is focused on ways to modify what the author terms difficult behaviors. These include repetitive questions, expressions of anxiety and fear, and physical agitation. Bourgeois points out that those who deal with demented individuals rarely can answer the same question repeatedly or explain away a worry, concern, or fear time after time without getting angry or frustrated themselves (p. 61). …