Christine Ward from Our Voice Matters in Hartlepool has given a little feedback about the ‘Making Sense of Dementia’ book. This is a book to help children’s understanding about dementia.
Christine says ‘I took the book for my Grandson and a relative to look at and I’ve attached their feedback.’
Making Sense of Dementia book
From Joseph age 9 and Ethan age 7.5
Both boys were very interested by the introduction section of the book and were very keen to take part.
Joseph already knew a little about dementia as his Grandma is a dementia advisor and has spoken to him about his great Grandma who lives with dementia.
Ethan’s understanding of dementia was vague.
Page 7 a-maze-ing
Both boys enjoyed and after a few attempts completed the maze puzzle.
Page 8 expresses yourself.
The boys came up with various answers eg Excited, confused, nervous, cool, shocked, happy, disappointed, cheeky, mad/sad, expressive, upset and not impressed.
Page 9 spot the difference.
The boys quickly spotted the difference. Joseph remarked on the books missing from the bookshelf as he remembered the book case analogy in the Dementia friend’s session.
Page 10 look again
Both boys loved this page. Joseph understood the meaning behind it as the brain can play tricks but this was a little lost on Ethan.
Page 11 holiday hurry
Both boys did well remembering the items, and thought about how difficult or easy it was to remember other things.
Page 12 what am I
Ethan struggled with a couple of descriptions eg number 7 and 8
Page 13 I remember you
They completed this page after thinking carefully about some of their answers
Page 14 colour me happy
Both boys gave different responses to the colours and how they made them feel. Ethan liked the orange and said he felt happy. Joseph liked the purple and said he felt cool. Ethan said the last colour (greeny yellow ) looked like bogeys.
Page 15 time well spent
The boys got into a competition claiming who did the most things to be helpful.
Page 16 Placing faces.
Both boys had a few turns at this page. They enjoyed it but didn’t appear to relate it to dementia.
Page 17 hidden words
The boys struggled with this page because the black marker pen provided was quite thick and obscured some letters that were needed to find the hidden words.
Page 18 Shadow Match
No problems with this page.
Page 19 connect the dots
Again the marker pen was a little thick to do this task
Page 20 well done
Joseph’s response – How difficult was the book? – Not sure
Ethan’s response – How difficult was the book? – Not sure
Joseph – how did this book make you feel? -Excited
Ethan – how did this book make you feel? – Happy
Joseph – do you feel you understand dementia more? – Much more
Ethan – do you feel you understand dementia more? – A bit more
Christine says, ‘Overall my feelings on watching the boys responses were that Joseph at age 9 understood the purpose of the book but I think Ethan was still a little too young to understand it was about dementia. However it was well received by both of them and they engaged well and it kept their attention for the hour it took to work through it.’
