This highly practical volume presents valuable insights for all professionals who provide activities for the impaired elderly. It will serve as a helpful resource for both those who work directly with the aged in institutional settings, as well for those who train activities counselors.Therapeutic Activities With the Impaired Elderly addresses a number of pertinent issues and provides useful information on designing and implementing recreation and socialization programs, memory improvement classes, sign language activities, and leisure education and counseling.

Offers a guideline on what constitutes good practice in activity provision. This guide presents: a benchmark against which activity providers can measure and evaluate their practice; clear links to national standards; and guidance for care home owners who wish to respond to the government initiatives on providing activities for their clients.

Here is comprehensive, systematic information about the services long-term care facilities are providing--outside of medical and nursing care--to enhance both the quality of care and the quality of life of the institutionalized elderly. Based on the results of a two-year survey of innovative programs in long-term care facilities for the elderly across the country, this impressive volume includes descriptions of physical activity programs, rehabilitation programs, and community linkage programs. The most important feature of each program description is the directory of information resources--a listing of responding facilities that are willing to be consulted about developing particular programs. Handbook of Innovative Programs for the Impaired Elderly is a source of fresh ideas and inspiration for creative responses to the needs of institutionalized elderly people.

Horticultural Therapy and the Older Adult Population is the guidebook you’ve been waiting for since the American Horticultural Therapy Association’s (AHTA) 1981 publication. With an updated collection of chapters in the area of horticultural therapy and older adults--ranging from a review of relevant literature to descriptions of existing horticultural therapy programs--this book will stimulate networking and information sharing among horticultural therapists and other professionals working with older adults, spur new ideas, and foster continuing research in the field. The book’s importance is recognized internationally, and it is soon to be published in Japanese. In Horticultural Therapy and the Older Adult Population, you will find chapters on garden designs to enhance the horticultural therapy experience, descriptions of existing horticultural therapy programs for older adults, and new research to evaluate the effectiveness of horticultural therapy with this population. Whether you’re an established horticultural therapist, a nursing home administrator, or a gerontology educator, this book will help you design gardens, set up and evaluate programs, and develop curriculum. Horticultural Therapy and the Older Adult Population also includes the results of a survey sent to all registered members of AHTA who work with the older adult population. The survey responses provide information about the institutions and the population served, programming activities, program staffing, program evaluation, and funding. Another beneficial feature of the book is a resource-packed bibliography. Prepared as a service to horticultural therapists and others working with older adults, it covers the most relevant publications--giving you more places to find inspiration and ideas for improving care to the elderly through horticultural therapy.

Full Circle is a how-to book that will prove you can trigger emotional responses in an individual or group therapy session using the right spiritual cues. You'll learn about the Spiritual Therapy Program and find the answers to general questions about how and where to establish the program. Full Circle also contains 80 thematic lesson plans for use in both group and individual sessions. The lessons are flexible and organized into lists to help you formulate the right agenda for individual dementia patients. In addition, Full Circle has expanded units for higher achieving seniors. You may also want to use the special notes, poetry, and quotations that are pinpointed within the appropriate specific theme for even more startling results. Full Circle's sophisticated approach to therapy will help you cater to the needs of the cognitively impaired elderly to trigger emotional responses and enhance overall quality of life.

Here is a one-of-a-kind resource for professionals who prepare and lead group activities for impaired older adults. Filling a crucial gap in the field of clinical gerontology, this invaluable guide provides more than 70 stimulating and therapeutic group activities designed specifically for use with moderately to severely impaired older adults. Even though group activities designed for children, adolescents, and young adults are inadequate and inappropriate for use with older adults who have significant cognitive, emotional, and physical limitations or impairments, very little has been published--until now--on activities designed to meet the special needs of this population. Comprehensive and well-organized This comprehensive and well-organized resource does even more than provide over 70 activities at your fingertips. It also includes a recommended schedule of activities for a typical day, helpful suggestions for planning and leading group activities, and valuable tips for creating your own group activities that are effective, therapeutic, and entertaining. Each entry includes information on the activity’s therapeutic value, the optimal group size, the time required, the materials needed, guidelines for adaptation, and blank space for your notes. Also for your convenience, symbols are used to indicate the therapeutic objective and the ease with which the activity can be implemented. Provides the foundation for a daily activities program Handbook of Group Activities for Impaired Older Adults provides the foundation for a therapeutic and enjoyable daily activities program that facilitates emotional expression, enhances problem solving skills and sensory stimulation, and encourages social interaction. Social workers, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, recreational therapists, group therapists, and related paraprofessionals who work in nursing or convalescent hospitals, adult day care or day treatment facilities, and retirement homes will not want to be without this practical guidebook.