A card game for people with dementia has no rules : NPR

(ho-dee-ay) play without rules

For people with dementia, social interactions can be vital in slowing the disease’s progression. But as a person’s condition worsens, finding enjoyable things to do together can be difficult. Two Vermont women created a new card game to help. Vermont Public’s Nina Keck has more.

KECK: Rinkema and Emerson began talking about ways to make a card game without rules using photographs. It took several prototypes, but they eventually came up with a square-shaped deck of cards – 23 pairs – each with a colorful photograph of a bird, from hawks and ospreys to songbirds and sparrows.

(Ho-dee-ay) is not the first game targeted to people with cognitive problems, but it may be one of the most free-form.

EMERSON: We wanted to have something that was – I think was really flexible.

KECK: Emerson encourages people to invent their own games with the cards – sort them or just talk about which of the birds you’ve seen before. The goal is connecting, something experts say is key.

JOHN STEELE TAYLOR: Being socially isolated, that’s, like, one of the worst things possible for the brain.

KECK: John Steele Taylor is a neurologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

TAYLOR: Social interactions, especially if they have a leisurely component or a physical activity component, that’s ultimately the best way to exercise the brain.

Source: A card game for people with dementia and their loved ones has no rules : NPR