submitted by Aja Toth of Berea Center on September 25, 2007

Size of Group: 10-20

Equipment: dry erase board, and dry erase markers

Objective: Use residents names to make new words

Description: I do this with a group of dementia residents ranging from begriming to moderate stage.

Have all the residents sit in a semi circle so that everyone can see the dry erase board. It works best to use either Black, Brown, or Blue markers. Start with the resident that is all the way to your right and ask them their name (give the resident ample time to respond). Write the name on the board and have everyone shout out words that can be made out of their name. Once you get 5 responses move onto the next resident. What I do is make a discussion group about the words in the name, ex. you could have been name Fence instead of Florence etc. This is a lot of fun and they really enjoy getting involved. The bigger the group the more participation you get. We usually do this twice a month since it had such a good response.