Seeing the dementia person as a 'real' person

Today George and I read one of his books and talked about all the memories this brought back.

I scanned many photos which I have used to publish books for both Mum and George. The first book I published was for Mum. I didn't put in that book who all the different people were so really I was the only person who could use that book with her. One of my nieces wanted that book. I made both Mum and George large 100 page books. Before putting the pictures into the book I put the photo into PowerPoint then used text boxes to put on each name, I then grouped everything and saved it as one picture to put in the book. This meant that they could read the names themselves or others could point out who the people were. When I put the pictures into the book I would often also add a caption. These published books are high quality and there are many companies on the web where you can go to make these books.

This photo shows Mum's grandparents, her mother (Rose) and her uncles and aunts. 

I have found too that staff in the homes love these books. Seeing these makes staff (according to the research) view the residents differently. Another thing that helps this process is telling staff small anecdotes about your loved one's life. The research points to these residents being treated better.