The Effects Of Macular Degeneration | LIVESTRONG.COM

The Effects Of Macular Degeneration. Macular degeneration MD causes deterioration of central vision. There are two types of macular degeneration: wet and dry. Vision loss may be gradual with the dry form of age-rela...

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Living Life to Its fullest

The American Occupational Therapist Association has just published a collection of essays including mine where  I share a bit about my experience helping my mother during her time with Alzheimer's disease while as the same time being a mother to an adolescent with a disability .
http://www1.aota.org/shop_aota/prodview.aspx?TYPE=D&PID=980&SKU=1254 

Eye Diseases That Cause You To Lose Peripheral Vision | LIVESTRONG.COM

"These are eye diseases that affect people of all ages. But during the work I do as a low vision occupational therapist I primarily see older people.
GeriatricOT.com"

Eye Diseases That Cause You To Lose Peripheral Vision. Peripheral vision is the part of the visual field used when looking out of the side of the eye. Eye diseases that destroy peripheral vision include glaucoma, which usually affects...

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Products For The Vision Impaired | LIVESTRONG.COM

"Here are the products I frequently demonstrate during low vision occupational therapy home visits..... "

Products For The Vision Impaired. Products for the visually impaired can make a huge difference in the life of someone with mild or severe vision loss. Some products, such as weak magnifiers and special lamps, are...

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Assisted Living Directory

Here's a helpful directory I came across if one needs info on assisted living facilities. Scroll down a ways and you will find some great resource links on topics related to alzheimers. http://www.assisted-living-directory.com/
As an OT most interested in activities- I liked this one about memory boxes the best! http://www.assisted-living-directory.com/content/memory-boxes.cfm

Alzheimer's Association Conference

My presentation at the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Association conference went very well. My topic was on adapting the home and activities for patients with AD.  There were 14 presentations at each of the three sessions, so there were a LOT of people there, mostly health care professionals.
I really enjoyed hearing Claire McClain, an activities director at Cooperative Elder Services describe some of the creative activities that she does with her residents. I also learned a  new trick - using Gold Fish as bingo markers just in case they get eaten (actually an attendee told me about that one).
I learned how to make your own puzzles by finding a meaningful picture, gluing it to colored paper, cutting out the pieces and then covering them with clear contact paper or laminating them. If all the pieces to one puzzle have the same color paper on the bottom it will be easy to keep them together in a set.
I liked the magazine picture scavenger hunt and poetry created by writing a person's name in a vertical column and then coming up with adjectives to describe that person using words that begin with the letters in the name. But my favorite activity was making sand art by rolling sidewalk chalk over salt in order to create inexpensive colorful "sand". Then the sand art bottles are made the usual way.