I chose to focus my instructional technology (training) degree on older adults when I became a caregiver for my own parents, a role I played for more than 10 years. Now, as I am getting a bit long in the tooth myself, (as my father used to say,) my interest in living and aging well is personal. But I still have enormous empathy for family and professional caregivers.

Here is what I have to offer caregivers:

Websites:
You can find both useful advice and compassionate reassurance at my website www.WiserNowAlz.com and my blog www.CaregiverCheer.com. Check out the material there, including my very practical and upbeat books on Alzheimer's caregiving:

Books:

• Alzheimer's Basic Caregiving - an ABC Guide to Care, which covers the basics including patterns of progression, communication and the hidden logic of behavior. Also available on Kindle.
• Activities of Daily Living - an ADL Guide to Alzheimer's Care, which covers dressing, bathing, grooming, nutrition and continence care. Also available on Kindle.

Products:
Wiser Now's MindPlay Connections™

One of the best coping mechanisms we have for dealing with stress is distracting our minds - preferably with something light-heartedly pleasurable. Wiser Now's MindPlay Connections™ are intended to be exactly that. They will make you smile, and, I hope, even laugh, because seeing the funny side of anything means you have made fresh connections in your brain - making life a little more manageable.

Check out our ever-growing catalog of trivia quizzes, word games, discussion topics, imaginative exercises and more. Register here for access to the following free booklets:

• The Philosophy Behind Wiser Now's MindPlay Connections™
• Adapting Wiser Now's MindPlay Connections™ for Someone with Dementia

The themed titles draw heavily on excerpts from past issues of Brain Aerobics Weekly, which we are no longer publishing. However, the issues are available on CDs in six-month increments under the name "Creative Mind Play" from
Health Professions Press.
Click to learn more and/or place an order.

Wiser Now -Letters for Elders™

• Do you remember the joy and comfort of getting letters from friends through the postal service?
• Do you remember sitting down with a cup of coffee or tea and relishing reading about the daily life of someone you cared about?
• Wouldn’t it be lovely to bring back those simple pleasures?

My guess is that your parent, spouse or friend would love to get such “snail mail” letters regularly, but you’re busy; who has time? I do.

Letters for Elders™ provides safe, memory-stirring, friendly letters that arrive regularly via the U.S. Postal Service in bright-colored envelopes to the person of your choice. Think of it as a one-way, no obligation pen-pal for someone you love. Let me become your surrogate relative.

Also check out the version for activity directors. Learn more at Letters for Elders™ now!