Can a GrandPad help Grandma feel like she’s contributing?

Dear Live Grand:

My grandma lives with my parents though since she has dementia, memory care is the plan for the future. Currently, the biggest frustration is that she still thinks that she needs to “keep the books” for the family business. It’s gotten so that a ten-key calculator confuses her, but not being able to “do her job” is causing serious anxiety. Would a GrandPad be useful with her dementia where it is? – SA

Dear SA:

Nearly everyone benefits from feeling as if they can contribute in some way and your grandma’s frustrated because she no longer feels that she can. It gives us joy to think that a GrandPad could help.

Considering her dementia, we'd suggest that prior to giving her the tablet the family admin upload and label family photos and add family members to her contact list. A tip: For people with memory problems, we encourage the admin to label the contacts by an identifying role. In your grandma’s case, for example, “Son Jeremy” and “Granddaughter Samantha” would cue her to someone’s place in her family when she sees their video call pop up or when she wants to call them.

Once the tablet is ready, consider introducing it by showing her the calculator, since the bookwork is her current focus. It's basic and simple to use. Perhaps your parents could find a couple of invoices that could credibly be part of the business and ask her if she wants to try it out. If this request makes her anxious, simply move on to the family photos. With all the choices offered by GrandPad, we think you’ll soon refocus her interests so that bookkeeping no longer matters.

When the time is right, someone could introduce her to the music app. At first, you or your parents might want to play a few songs for her, so she gets the idea. Music would likely bring back memories and may relax her if agitation is a problem. Along the same line if your parents want to set one of the scenes from the Mood app for her, the soothing animation and sound might offer another way to level out some of her anxious feelings. 

Introduce the features gradually so that she’s not overwhelmed. If she shows no interest in one function, you can move back to familiar photos or distract her by trying a different activity not related to technology. Over time, her confidence and pleasure in using her GrandPad should build.

Since the family admin controls what’s available to her, she can't do anything risky. No scam or junk phone calls, either, since the only people who can call her are those that the admin allows.

The GrandPad was created to be a flexible tool to help people living with challenges connect with family and friends, stay engaged in life, and reminisce. We have confidence that with a little time your grandma will learn to love her tablet which could help smooth her move to memory care, as well.

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