Activity Suggestions

[JSunshine]

I am struggling to find activities for my husband who has ALS with FTD. He is in the later stages of FTD and is uncommunicative. Prior to his disease he loved games and puzzles, but now has low cognitive ability, poor hand dexterity, and dropped head making vision a challenge, so games and even the simplest 13-piece puzzles are physically and cognitively challenging. He used to spend his days watching movies, but eventually limited his movie choices to six and is now bored with those and has no interest in finding new things to watch. There is one card game he can still play and enjoy. He would happily play it with someone all day, but it would be nice to find something he could enjoy by himself for short periods of time. I fear I am asking for the impossible, but even one new idea would be an amazing gift.

 

[lgelb]

I'm very sorry about your husband.

Could you mount a big iPad in a way that he could still see it/tap it enough to play cards and maybe other games? There are floor, table, and chair mounts so it's usually possible to position it in a way that works if he can still tap. If he could use it, you could also put YouTube on it, set up autoplay based on something he used to watch, or something that he might be interested in for a short time, like animal cams, a concert, or poker or a favorite team. Movies can be hard to follow, so I was thinking in terms of shorter "segments" and non-narrative video. Or even a straight audio playlist if video is confusing for him, maybe using earbuds for more relaxation.

 

[KimT]

Many people with FTD respond to music. Can you make him playlists on Youtube or iPad?

 

[JSunshine]

Thank you for so many ideas. I hadn't thought about a movie, especially a new one, being hard to follow. I may just try casting family photos onto the TV.