Let's Look Together: An Interactive Picture Book for People with Memory (Ziegler)

Excerpted from the Introduction of Let's Look Together: An Interactive Picture Book for People with Memory by Rae-Lynn Cebul Ziegler

Copyright © 2009 by Health Professions Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the author.

This book has a very basic purpose. It is intended to be used as an activity that encourages meaningful interaction between a person living with a cognitive disability and a caregiver, family member, or other individual who wishes to make an emotional or cognitive connection with that person. Hopefully the pleasant mood of the time spent together over this book will stay with the person even if he or she cannot remember what you did together.

One of the beauties of this book is that it presents a failure-free activity that can be individualized in unlimited and creative ways that succeed in the moment and honor the integrity of the connection. At its best, this book is a tool to help connect with the person with mental (cognitive) impairment wherever he or she is at any given moment, and in so doing it becomes a bridge to the abilities that remain and are not lost.

The book can be used with anyone, regardless of gender, ethnic background, age, or stage of physical or emotional ability.

Background

This book has evolved from a personal to a professional tool. It started as a way to connect with my own mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. At the point when Mom had lost most of her ability to talk coherently and to express what she might be thinking, it seemed that she still generally understood what I was saying but was unable to speak back to me. Communication abilities can break down on both

incoming (receptive aphasia) and outgoing (expressive aphasia) levels. My mother, who had always been very articulate, appeared to have developed expressive aphasia, which prevented her from making her thoughts known.

As an occupational therapist, I was better equipped than most people to think of things to do with Mom and to be therapeutically creative with her, but even I began to struggle with the limitations of our interactions. I desperately wanted to preserve our deep connections as mother and daughter. I conceived of a book that we could share together. I liked the idea that we could sit side by side and feel each other’s presence.