Montessori for Dementia: Activities With a Purpose

The four principles, in plain terms

• •Real work, real materials. Actual napkins, actual silverware, actual towels — nothing simulated.
• •Meet the ability that exists today. Break the task down until success is likely, then stop breaking it down.
• •Invite, never assign. "Would you help me with these?" leaves dignity intact where "here, do this" does not.
• •The process is the point. If the napkins end up folded wrong, the napkins are fine.

Tasks that work, by ability

Start one level easier than you think is needed. Adding difficulty later feels like a compliment; taking it away feels like a loss.

• •Earlier stage: set the table, sort mail into two piles, water plants, dry and put away dishes, fold laundry, polish silver, pair socks
• •Middle stage: sort silverware into a tray, wipe a table, arrange flowers in a vase, roll yarn, pair playing cards by color, stack towels
• •Later stage: hold and pass a single object, smooth a folded cloth, run a hand over a textured surface, turn pages of a picture book
• •Always: the task should have an obvious beginning and a visible end

How to set a task up so it can't fail

• •Clear the surface first. Visual clutter makes a simple task feel impossible.
• •Put out one set of materials, not three. Fewer choices, more success.
• •Demonstrate once, slowly, without narrating every step.
• •Then be quiet. Resist the urge to help, hurry, or correct.
• •Thank them for the work itself: "That helped me, thank you." Not "good job" — that belongs to a child.