My dad is in a nursing home with advanced dementia. Apparently he is constantly fidgeting with his clothes and ripping them. We have purchased sweat pants without a string and pullovers with no zippers or buttons and that has helped. But he still seems to want to do "something" with his hands. Just curious if anyone has ever run into this and if they found any objects that helped? As I write this I remembered as a little girl having a "dressy bessy" and "dapper dan" doll where you could learn to dress a doll. I'm not sure that would work but it popped into my head just now. Any other ideas?
Thanks in advance!
MelissaPA, "busy boards" is a good suggestion; I think I might make one for myself just for practice, as using hand tools also helps (me) keep my fingers flexible.
The other posts with similar suggestions reminded me that one of the OT's at one rehab facility had similar boards that were used as part of OT, regardless of the nature of the specific issue for which someone was in rehab. TomUS, the items you suggested have also been used in rehab facilities.
This subject of what to do with fidgety, idle hands appears periodically on the forum, and there are a lot of good suggestions. But I think those made on this specific thread are some of the best I've read. I bookmark these threads for later referrals, and this thread and its insightful suggestions definitely falls in that category.
You could take a baby blanket and sew on stuff. Like a zipper. A bow that can be retied. There are examples on the internet.
Look for children's toys designed for men. Extra large puzzles might be considered, although it's possible this could frustrate him if he's unable to match the sides.
What did he do as a profession when he was working?
not only kept his hands busy, but helped to calm him too. Between coloring books and peace and quiet...we could usually delay onset sundowner by a couple hours.
“good job” cause we need to hear that even if it’s from ourselves .