Essay on Dementia: Reminiscence Therapy and Montessori Method

the importance of relationships and interactions with others to the person with dementia, and their potential for promoting well‑being.

The development of a dementia environment approach will highly impact the improvement of life of people living with dementia involving their family and carers, evidently reducing the stigma linked with the condition. The need to physically and socially design an approach for the progressing ageing population, and better comprehension of the issues affecting the dementia suffering elderly. Life Community Village is a specially designed and self-contained village for dementia-affected people imitating a normal daily life. It visions a change of approach in dementia care in the future and cope with the growing number of issues of dementia in the ageing population. Its mission on the other hand, is focused on delivering a holistic and person-centric approach by leading and optimizing a normal life for dementia-suffering elderly. Also providing a dementia-friendly community and creating a society that the dementia-suffering person can engage in. In the current increasing population of older Australians, there is over a million that has received a form of aged care support and services every year. This is provided through the collaboration of funding and administration of the local, state and federal government. Meanwhile, according to Australian statistics, there are more than 353,800 who are living with dementia. In less than five years, it is projected to rise to 400,000; and due to the fact that there is currently no cure for the condition, and with the

The social model of dementia is about the person, and how it affects individuals. The social model of care seeks to understand the emotions and behaviours of the person with dementia by placing him or her within context of his or her social circumstances and biography or in other word he is in centre of everything of the planning. By learning about each person with dementia as an individual, with his or her own history and background, care and support can be designed to be more appropriate to individual needs such as ‘can do’ area and build on these areas rather than looking at the problematic.

Demonstrate how an individual with dementia has been valued, included and able to engage in daily life.

Instead of treating all people with dementia the same – it makes the care you give

• Every individual, including individuals with dementia, has their unique life history, lifestyle, culture and preferences, including their likes, dislikes, hobbies and interests, which makes an individualised approach in care necessary.

In today’s society many people recognize that our current educational system is antiquated and heavily flawed. Many do not believe the education our children routinely receive adequately prepares them to be successful in their adult lives and because of this parents are very concerned. This dissatisfaction has led to the implementation of numerous alternatives to the traditional educational system to which we have become accustomed. Each of these alternatives has their own collection of philosophies and methodologies, proponents and opponents, advantages and disadvantages, but the common thread is that they each aim to provide our children with a better, more effective education suited for today’s world. Montessori education is one of these alternative learning options that been around for many years and has been steadily gaining popularity.

2.2 Explain how positive interactions with individuals who have dementia can contribute to their wellbeing

This essay will aim to introduce the term dementia including the types, causes, prevalence, young onset and models of care. This essay will continue to address what skill could be implemented to provide person centred care with understanding of health promotion and recovery concepts.

Dementia is an extremely common disease among the elderly, with 4 million Americans currently suffering from the Alzheimer’s type alone. Figures show that 3% of people between the ages of 65-74 suffer from the disease, rapidly increasing to 19% for the 75-84 age bracket, and as high as 47% for the over 85s. Therefore, it is easy to see why Dementia is such a large part of many people’s lives, whether they are suffering from the condition themselves, or have an elderly relative who requires full time care just to undertake simple day to day tasks. The disease can be extremely traumatic for the patient and their families, as the person, who may have been extremely lively and bright throughout their

Maria Montessori founded an education system which is called Montessori and still bares her name, her system is based on belief in the child’s creative potential, (Douglas, n.d.). Her first Casa Dei Bambini (Children’s house), where Maria was using her approach of teaching was opened in 1907 in Rome. She was great educator who believed that children are learning through their personal experience at their right time and their own pace. (Ridgway, 2007). Children rather than learning largely from what the teachers and the textbooks say, learn from “doing”,(Douglas, n.d.). To provide for children an effective, independent learning process, and that they become a competent and confident learner, Teacher had to provide for children a healthy, clean, well-prepared and well organised environment in which children could develop. Maria Montessori came up with idea that if children have to work and play independently, they have to be comfortable and need appropriately sized tools and items that fit their small hands (Mooney, 2000). Montessori believed that children learn through sensory experiences. Teacher has a responsibility to provide wonderful sights, textures, sounds, and smells for children. Sensory

The Montessori Method focuses mainly on Multiage Grouping, which is when older students reinforce what they have learned by teaching the younger ones. This was achieved by Christopher being able to reinforce his learning by teaching his younger sister Angela. For it to be an authentic Montessori Method, the teacher must have the Montessori materials and a nurturing environment to present them in. And according to Christopher, his mother performed these with outstanding results, even if she made some of the lessons herself when she couldn’t get the official version. Montessori also observed that children learn better through sensory-motor activities, which is based on learning through seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching and

The education system back in her era focused on teaching the children to memorise word to word from books and posters and Children sat in rows at desks at the classroom learning from a blackboard and slates. This method of education wasn’t stimulating and exciting for children. Nevertheless through her experience Montessori discovered children want to learn, and they will do it in their own time frame and they shouldn’t be forced.

This also suggests that teachers should facilitate this process by knowing the best time to teach children certain things. The third premises of this learning theory is sensitive time which is the “right” time to introduce children to different learning concepts. Each child develops at a different pace so it is important that teachers recognize the correct sensitive times to introduce new concepts based on individual needs. The prepared environment is the fourth premises of her theory which means that the teacher preselects the learning materials she wants her students to be exposed to during class time. Teachers manipulate and prepare the classroom environment so that students have specific choices to guide their experience towards what is planned for their development. The last premises of Montessori 's learning theory is auto-education which is often seen as the main goal of the Montessori method. Auto-education is when children teach themselves by making choices and experiencing things in the planned environment. Montessori used these premises to create 4 unique planes of development which track children 's development and outline what environmental changes need to be made to ensure the appropriate learning experience for children. The first plane, infancy, lasts

Dr. Maria Montessori was a keen observer of children. She used her observational and experimental proclivities from her medical background to develop, what we might today call, a Constructivist understanding of the process of learning. She studied them scientifically. If she saw some unusual behavior in a child, she would say,”I won’t believe it now, I shall if it happens again”. She studied the conditions in which the children would perform those actions.