If your elderly loved one has any type of dementia, they are going to experience memory loss and repetition issues at some point. If your elderly loved one is repeating things all the time, you might wonder what you can do about it. While you can’t make this go away, there are some things that you and their senior care providers can do to handle the repetition properly, instead of getting frustrated about it.
Senior Care Syracuse NY – Handling Repetition with Your Elderly Loved One
Find Out More About Alzheimer’s
If you are frustrated that your elderly loved one is repeating themselves often, one of the things that you should do is to find out more about their condition. The more that you learn about dementia, the more that you might start understanding what is happening. Part of the reason they are repeating themselves is because of their memory loss. They can’t remember if they already told you the same story 5 times.
Responding Properly
If your elderly loved one is repeating themselves, one of the things that you should do is to respond properly. Your elderly loved one wants to know that you are listening to them and truly hearing them. Even if they have told you the same exact story a bunch of times, be sure that are validating what they are saying. You can just say something simple such as “Alright” or “Yes”. In other situations, you might have to sit your elderly loved one down and talk them through the situation.
Using Distractions
After you have shown your elderly loved one that you are listening to them, you can attempt to change the conversation to something different. You can bring up a different story, ask your loved one if they would like to watch a movie, or anything else that could distract them.
Redirection Could Help
Another way to handle repetition is through redirection. Find something your elderly loved one to do that brings their attention to something else. Some examples would be to redirect them to listening to music, having them do a puzzle, showing them a picture, offering to get them a drink or snack, etc. By doing this they will likely forget about what they were talking about and move onto something else.
Being able to communicate with your elderly loved one is important. However, when they are constantly repeating themselves things can become frustrating. With the tips mentioned here, you can handle the repetition properly and communicate better with your loved one, as well.
Sources: https://www.scie.org.uk/dementia/living-with-dementia/difficult-situations/repetition.asp
