You can Google the above. It is a combination of dance, song and art said to be very effective in people with dementia and autism. The program and certification is expensive (of course). The county south of us is using it in their Council on Aging Daycare. The facility where my husband is considering its use. I'll let you know what happens.
I've been so busy that I didn't get a chance until just now to Google that. Looks extremely interesting. When I was doing speech and language therapy, I often collaborated with the occupational therapist and or art teacher, and sometimes the music teacher to do combination therapy. I did a lot of art/language therapy on my own to facilitate language, and it always worked well.
I will read more of Art Without Boundaries when I return later. I'll be out all day.
Bluedaze, I checked out the site and I loved it. Since I am an artist and a speech therapist, it's right up my alley. I am going to look into further. I would appreciate hearing of any first hand experience anyone has.
Bluedaze, thanks. Shoegirl is just because I LOVE and am crazy for shoes. It reminds me that there still is a fun side of me :) I'm not just a caregiver, I'm a caregiver with great shoes.
I found a site that shows Snowball, a cockatoo, dancing: http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080625/full/news.2008.914.html
THe interesting thing is not that he dances to rhythm (boy, that's as hard to spell as diarrhea!) but that scientists are looking to him to get clues to how people with Parkinsons, etc, brain damage, respond to music.
Okay, briegull, I just watched that video, and it deserves the front page. I am putting it up as a weekend "stress reliever". Just watching it put a smile on my face. Thank you.
I am fascinated by the You Tube demonstrations of elephants painting scenes of themselves, other elephants, bouquets of flowers, etc. They freestyle the drawing, their use of space is phenomenal . and the use of their trunk in drawing a line then retracing the line is mind boggling. Their perception and use of memory is a mystery to me. My son was so intrigued by the painting that he has purchased one, plans to put it on a wall using a digital picture frame and also show a DVD mext to the frame of the elephant painting the picture. The intricacies of the human and animal brains are a wonder to behold, and it is so sad to see the effects of AD on such a miracle .
I love those elephants too (just go to youtube and type thai elephant and you'll see them) i still volunteer at our zoo, and our elephants are given paint on the walls to smear around. They're pretty good with it, but NOTHING like those Thai elephants!
If it's any comfort, friends, animals have dementia too. All over the country zoos are coping with animals living long beyond their expected lifetimes. Arthritis bothers many of them - and they take glucosamine. And many of them end up appearing senile, staring into space, walking in circles, etc. It distresses their keepers no end.
My eighteen-year-old cat takes glucosamine for her arthritis. And I've noticed with several of my really old cats, now and in the past, that they have tended to get distracted easily, and need my help to focus on eating. No question that they get a bit muddled when they get older. And their sense of smell goes, too, and probably their sense of taste -- I've had to work to find foods that they enjoy. And my sweet Lady became incontinent, bless her heart, and needed me to clean up after her.
Old age is the pits, no matter what species we are!!!