October is Dyslexia Awareness Month and it can be a surprise to many people to realize that plenty of older adults deal with dyslexia. This is a condition that makes reading and some other activities a lot more difficult and in some cases impossible. So, what can you do to help your aging family member live her best life even with dyslexia? Here are a few tips and how companion care at home can help.
Understand How Dyslexia Affects Her Daily Life
Dyslexia is something that has impacted your senior’s entire life, even if she was only recently diagnosed. She may have difficulty reading, memorizing, and even managing time. Dyslexia can also contribute to mental health problems, like depression or your senior being too hard on herself all the time. It’s important to understand as much as you can how dyslexia impacts your senior so that you can put solutions in place that truly work well for her.
Break Down Tasks as Much as Possible
If your elderly family member is trying to do too much on her own, she can easily get overwhelmed. That’s especially true if dyslexia affects her ability to manage her time and interpret written instructions and information. Helping her to break down what she needs to know can reduce a lot of frustration for her.
Use Pictures or Icons Around the House
Instead of using written signs or labels, change things up and reduce the chance of frustration and misinterpretation for your elderly family member by using icons or pictures. This makes labeling containers, shelves, and anything else much more helpful for her. She won’t have to struggle nearly as much to find what she needs.
Record Audio or Video Reminders
When you need to leave reminders for your senior or communicate important information with her for later, consider recording it. Leaving her a video or audio message can ensure that she gets the information you’re trying to communicate to her without frustrating her. It’s also something that she can replay as often as she needs to.
Make Life Less Stressful in General
Life with dyslexia is already stressful enough. The more that you can do to reduce your elderly family member’s stress levels in general, the easier life is going to be for her. One way to do this is to bring in companion care at home to help with anything that is becoming a challenge for her. They’re able to tackle tasks like light housekeeping and meal preparation that might be getting more complicated for your senior.
Bring in Companion Care at Home
Something else to consider is companionship for your elderly family member. If dyslexia is complicating her life in a big way, she may find that she is more withdrawn than usual and that can lead to loneliness and isolation. Companion care at home can offer someone who is there to offer friendship, conversation, and a low-stress encounter.
Dyslexia can make everything feel more complicated for your elderly family member, but that doesn’t mean she can’t experience solutions that help her to love her life.
If you or an aging loved one is considering companion care at home in Brooklyn Park, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.
