Teepa Snow video on challenging behaviors

dancsfo

When a PWD shows a challenging behavior, I often dismiss it as due to a broken brain, and I often just try to distract or ignore it. In other words, a broken brain means there may not be a good rhyme or reason to consider. So why bother?

I learned that some detective work can help. I saw this Teepa Snow video on YouTube, shared at a caregiving group.

In summary: PWD shakes a maracas (rattle) on each chair at a care facility, annoying everyone. Rather than making her stop, Snow found out that PWD used to clean for a living and was mistaking the object for a duster. Snow was able work with PWD to "clean together", and redirect, and avoid triggering.

I learned a similiar thing from a caregiver group leader, who knows of a PWD who "made rounds" late at night knocking on each door of other PWD's living quarters. This person used to be a licensed nurse, making sure each patient took their meds. So detective work helped and can help redirect.

The lesson for me is that a PWD goes through stages, as does the caregiver's ability. Dismissing acts as "due to a broken brain", can be a reasonable reaction at some stage, but as one gets more experienced, or sees even more challenging behavior, a more nuanced approach may be appropriate.

For me, PWD was trying to fill a new toothpaste tube with the left over paste from old almost empty tube (and potentially making a mess, and I could not stand watching it). Then I said I wanted to use the left over paste. I didn't do it with the tact that Snow showed, but it was better than just taking it away and I avoided confrontation.

(note: having more than one of anything seems to be a problem for PWD, so I try to avoid stuff like two bottles of salad dressing, etc., since the PWD is always trying to consolidate into one container. I just didn't think it would happen with toothpaste)

I have seen references to Teepa Snow on this forum before and I didn't appreciate them as much when I first saw them. I think I was less experienced as a caregiver.