There are a couple of things that are circulating on Facebook that have me more than a bit irked. First.....
This is an awesome video. I've seen it circulating with the description something like "a Jewish lady sings to a Christian lady." BFD. The lady singing is Naomi Feil. She created the Validation technique, a way to interact with people who are treading water in the murky slough of Alzheimer's.
The fact that Naomi is Jewish and Gladys is Christian has absolutely nothing to do with anything here. Although Naomi has a graduate degree in something & her title is a social worker, she is basically just an activity professional. And when one is just an activity professional, one is whatever one is needed to be in the moment. Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist. It just doesn't matter. There is no religion when it comes to working w/Alzheimer's residents. All you needs is empathy, patience, compassion and most importantly detachment from a supposed end result.
This is not a Christmas miracle or even an example of god's greatness. (I think those who think this should read up on the symbolisms of validation technique.) This is is just what any activity professional that is worth a damn would do.
So, Get over it!!
Naomi may well have worked with Gladys every day for 6 months, a year, a week. Maybe not singing these songs, but sitting with her holding her hand, reading to her, massaging her forehead, showing her pictures ..... whatever. Or, this may have been their first interaction. There is no formula nor timetable. Also, Naomi may have seen this response only once. Gladys may very well have retreated back into her memory den, never to respond in this or any other way again.
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I once worked with a lady i'll call "B". She was deeply confused and extremely anxious. Her disease was not as progressed as Gladys'. B was still verbal although to describe her speech as nonsensical would be an understatement. I decided i was going to have a poetry group and see what happened. I shut the door, put on relaxing classical music and showed the residents pictures of landscapes. Most everyone fell asleep except B.
B & I looked at a picture of the ocean. I told her we were going to write a poem. And asked her to talk to me about the picture. She asked what it was. I told her it was the ocean.
& this is what we got:
The fact that Naomi is Jewish and Gladys is Christian has absolutely nothing to do with anything here. Although Naomi has a graduate degree in something & her title is a social worker, she is basically just an activity professional. And when one is just an activity professional, one is whatever one is needed to be in the moment. Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist. It just doesn't matter. There is no religion when it comes to working w/Alzheimer's residents. All you needs is empathy, patience, compassion and most importantly detachment from a supposed end result.
This is not a Christmas miracle or even an example of god's greatness. (I think those who think this should read up on the symbolisms of validation technique.) This is is just what any activity professional that is worth a damn would do.
So, Get over it!!
Naomi may well have worked with Gladys every day for 6 months, a year, a week. Maybe not singing these songs, but sitting with her holding her hand, reading to her, massaging her forehead, showing her pictures ..... whatever. Or, this may have been their first interaction. There is no formula nor timetable. Also, Naomi may have seen this response only once. Gladys may very well have retreated back into her memory den, never to respond in this or any other way again.
____
I once worked with a lady i'll call "B". She was deeply confused and extremely anxious. Her disease was not as progressed as Gladys'. B was still verbal although to describe her speech as nonsensical would be an understatement. I decided i was going to have a poetry group and see what happened. I shut the door, put on relaxing classical music and showed the residents pictures of landscapes. Most everyone fell asleep except B.
B & I looked at a picture of the ocean. I told her we were going to write a poem. And asked her to talk to me about the picture. She asked what it was. I told her it was the ocean.
& this is what we got:
I've always liked the Ocean,
my mother was born very near it.
I've always thought my father kept a magical part of it in his soul.
I've always liked the ocean.
It's wild and uncontrollable.
Alive, not easily reachable.
Marvelous waves. Unstoppable.
You can't stop a wave.
My mother and father were close to the ocean.
I didn't know that until they were older.
Stronger.
My memories of my mother and father are as of the waves.
Unstoppable, beautiful.
I've always liked the ocean.
Yes. She said all that. I arranged a bit. But those were her words. And yes, she did repeat "i've always liked the ocean."
And... this never happened again. I tried ... a few times. But that was all she had to say about that.
I guess.
_____
I once worked w/a lady, "L". L loved to stay in her bed and make wonderful works of art on the wall with her feces. She was combative, aggressive, downright nasty & minimally verbal. She was pretty deep into her disease and also very very hard of hearing. One to one time w/L. was one of my one to one assignments. Yay. :/
Since communication was limited, i simply visited w/L and showed her pictures. By doing this i discovered that she really liked birds as evidenced by the length of time she looked at those pictures and a softening of facial expressions. I decorated her walls with pictures of birds.
I decided we would try some coloring. I brought a coloring page of a bird and crayons & showed it to L.
Nothing.
I colored a bit of the picture then offered her the crayon. She took it and began coloring ... just a little. She said "pretty." Just a word but an appropriate one. When I left she said "Thank you."
Did she ever color again? Hell no. Nor, did she ever really interact with me that positively again. But that one time was pretty cool. And it happened after weeks and weeks of visits.
_____
I guess what i'm saying is this: no matter how deeply entrenched a person is in her Alzheimer's/dementia. She is still in there. And bringing her out, getting a response, is a lot of work sometimes. And a lot of detachment all the time. But it can be done. For a moment anyway. And if it is done, it will usually be done by those who are considered to be the lip gloss of the facility. Those with the "cake job." By those people who are just activity professionals.
