Music therapy sounds really complicated, but all it means is using and choosing music that helps your elderly family member to express herself and to enjoy her life. There are a lot of different ways that you can use music to improve your elderly family member’s quality of life, so experiment to find the ways that she seems to like the best.
Familiar Music Helps to Make a Connection with Your Senior
Even if your elderly family member can’t talk to you in the same way that she did in the past, music can bridge that gap. Music that is familiar to her and that she loves is connected with memories. They may be memories that she’s shared with you before or they may be new to you, but they can help her to forget those connections.
Music Can Help Set a Mood
If you’re trying to help your senior to be more active, choose music that fits that tone. Likewise, calming music can help her when she’s feeling upset. Whenever possible, let your senior choose the music, even when you’re trying to set a specific tone. Giving her a choice allows her to feel a level of control in what’s happening around her.
Be Careful that Music Isn’t Distracting
There are some times when music might not be a good idea. If the music might be distracting your senior from activities that she needs or wants to do, like eating, then it’s a better idea to shut the music off for a little while. Distractions can be confusing for your senior, and that might give you a different result from what you were aiming for in the first place.
Choose Sources Carefully
Something else that can be confusing is when there’s only a snippet of a favorite song or when commercials come on during a radio broadcast. Depending on how your senior handles these types of things, you may want to curate the music collection that you use for her in a much more careful way.
There are so many different ways that music can help your senior to deal with her circumstances. Using music to help her to get used to meeting new people, like new elder care providers, can also be a good idea. Make sure to let elder care providers know which music selections are your senior’s favorite, and that can help to build a relationship.
IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING ELDER CARE IN LAKEWOOD, FL, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT HOME HELPERS OF BRADENTON. CALL TODAY: (941) 499-5946
