Page 20 - Storytelling - Storylistening

VI. TimeSlips Storytelling Inspires Imagination Rather than Memory for Elders with Dementia
3. Facilitators bring multiple copies of a picture they have selected and hand a copy to each storyteller. Facilitators ask general, open-ended questions (avoiding potential “yes” or “no” answers) about the picture. For example, “Who should we say this is?” “What do you want to say she is doing?” “How does she feel?” Facilitators assure the storytellers that there are no wrong answers.
4. A facilitator writes down all the responses on a sketch pad large enough for the storytellers to see. All responses, including any nonsensical answers, are validated and woven into the fabric of the story.
5. A facilitator rereads the story when she notices the storytellers’ attention beginning to drift. A single story may last up to one hour, but most run 30 minutes.
6. At the end of the session, facilitators acknowledge the risk and energy demanded by a full hour of creative storytelling by thanking each storyteller for his or her input. The free-form storytelling process demands facilitators leave behind preconceived notions of what constitutes a story. Because there are no right or wrong answers in the creative process, TimeSlips activities allow people with dementia to enter from where they are – with memory gaps and word fragments – without judgment.
7. After several weeks, stories can be gathered together into a homemade book and distributed to families and staff. The NTSP also recommends and provides models for forging collaborative partnerships with local arts organizations to interpret and present the stories to the community at large.
Citing a study of the TimeSlips process in nursing homes, the NTSP says it increases communication among storytellers with dementia (including the number of times they initiate communication), reduces their confusion and improves their sociability.
It also improves job satisfaction for participating staff, strengthens relationships between storytellers and primary family caregivers and reduces fear of people with dementia by student volunteers.
TimeSlips is the recipient of the 2005 MindAlert Award sponsored by the American Society on Aging and the MetLife Foundation for programs specifically designed to enhance mental fitness for cognitively impaired older adults.
For more information on the TimeSlips storytelling method, contact National TimeSlips Project, Center on Age & Community, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53211 414.229.2740, or log onto www.TimeSlips.org.
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