Making Everyday Life a Little Easier
At Mt. Bethel, we provide an assisted living environment for individuals with special needs. We separate our special needs community from our senior living communities for a few reasons. One is to make sure that people in our special needs community have same-age peers and age-appropriate activities to enrich their lives. However, the other reason is that we have found some basic strategies that seem to help the person with cognitive special needs function in daily life. This list is not all inclusive, nor does it help every single person with a special need, but we have found that following these steps provides a significant quality-of-life improvement for our residents. Whether you are a special needs adult looking to transition into an assisted living environment or a caregiver looking for tips on how to make things run more smoothly, we hope you find these tips helpful.
- Minimize distractions: Even quiet background noise can be very challenging for a person with a cognitive impairment, so eliminating background noise can be one tool for success. You may not always be able to eliminate background noise or might find it unreasonable for other family members to forego television or radio, so you might find the use of ear plugs or noise-canceling headphones to be an effective way to minimize distractions.
- Follow a routine: Consistency helps all of us remember things. Keeping a consistent schedule, keeping things in their place, and sticking to the same route can make things easier to remember for patients with cognitive impairments. Because change can be overwhelming for some people with some types of impairment, following a routine can also help reduce or eliminate the emotional distress that comes with change.
- Be open about the impairment: There are many resources in the community that are designed to help people deal with cognitive impairment and to provide support and resources for caregivers. However, some people are reluctant to discuss the impairment because they perceive that there is stigma attached to various diagnoses. However, it is only by being open and honest about any special needs that a person can get access to the various accommodations and programs that can make life much easier.
- Write things down: If something is difficult to remember, write it down and keep it in a place that is easy to access.
