2024 01 Spring with bleed V4 - Flipbook - Page 36
The SPECAL Method 3 a different way of understanding
dementia
Zoe Elkins, Trustee for the Contented Dementia Trust.
People often talk about dementia as a problem of
forgetfulness 3 but this can be quite unhelpful. If we think
about memory in terms of storage and retrieval, dementia
starts to make sense. The SPECAL method is an innovative
dementia management method developed by Contented Dementia Trust.
Normal memory (in people who don9t have dementia) provides us with a
continuous record of what has just been happening in our life, both the facts,
and the feelings associated with them. We have constant access to this recent
information. We know what we are doing, and why, because we are able to
access very recent memories. We know how we are feeling, and what has
made us feel that way. Dementia introduces a change to the storage of
recent memories. The feelings continue to store 3 but the facts often don9t
store at all. There are two very important learnings from this new
understanding:
• Feelings are more important than facts for the person with dementia.
• In the absence of recent facts, the person with dementia will use older
memories, in order to make sense of the here and now.
These learnings lead us to a new way of communicating with the person with
dementia, which avoids wrong-footing them, promotes their self-esteem, and
enables us to continue enjoying a meaningful connection with them. Avoid
asking questions 3 the facts needed to answer may not have been stored.
• Instead of 8how are you today?9 try 8you are looking well today9.
• Instead of 8would you like a cup of tea9 try 8I think it might be time for a
cup of tea9.
• Listen to the expert 3 the person with dementia 3 and learn from them.
Everything a person with dementia says and does has meaning 3 it9s not
nonsense. The challenge is for us to listen to them, understand how they are
feeling, which memories they are accessing, and what matters to them right
now.
• Don9t contradict. You might 8know9 that a certain fact is incorrect (of
course your mother isn9t still alive mum 3 she9d be 120 years old!) but for a
person who is accessing older facts to make sense of the present, and
who always knows how they are feeling but may not know why 3 being
constantly corrected this way is highly damaging and doesn9t achieve
anything
• You don9t have to agree 3 just don9t disagree 3 a smile goes a long way!
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