Founder and Executive Director Linda Fodrini-Johnson, MA, MFT, CMC

Recently, at a class I was teaching, someone asked why her mother with Alzheimer’s dementia would not eat in the skilled nursing home she was in when at home she didn’t have a problem.

 Often, in medical and residential facilities, they give the patient too many choices, a challenge for those with dementia.  I told her to take off all the glasses and cups of fluid (they had given her juice, water, milk and tea) and just leave one liquid on the tray at a time.  The same for foods – if a plate is given with too much food on it – it can easily overwhelm those with a dementia.  So, think about no more than two foods on the tray or in front of a family member with dementia at a time.

 The same holds true for utensils – just put the utensil needed for the food in front of your Alzheimer family member.  For example, if you give someone a bowl of soup – just the spoon. 

 These few shifts in the environment made all the difference for this client’s mom.