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Seriously, any ideas?

My wife works in a dementia care home and I'm occiassionally sat around with the oldies so sometimes i'll make them a balloon animal or something, but does anyone have any ideas on any magic that could be done?

To be honest, I'm probably not going to follow up on many suggestions but I'd like to hear what people think they can perform for someone who can't remember who you are 4 seconds after an introduction. Assume zero recall on anything.

Dementia doesnt stop you enjoying things as they happen. just keep it short and visual.. Kind of like grown up childrens magic.

I am desperately holding back on the flood of jokes !

I'd go with what Dale states - quick & visual. Otherwise book a singer instead who can dredge up their long term memory with golden oldies

daleshrimpton wrote:Dementia doesnt stop you enjoying things as they happen. just keep it short and visual.. Kind of like grown up childrens magic.

The problem there is that if you produce a card or (in my case) a juggling ball they just think "yes, you're holding a card/ball" and either can't remember, or can't make the connection between the fact that, 2 seconds ago, you wern't.

Appreciate this is not the case for all those with dementia, and that there will be plenty with it that can enjoy magic; but in the cases of the ladies and gentleman I occasionally introduce myself to, it sadly is.

I am desperately holding back on the flood of jokes !

me too.... Even though some of my family are effected by it.

Lawrence wrote:

daleshrimpton wrote:Dementia doesnt stop you enjoying things as they happen. just keep it short and visual.. Kind of like grown up childrens magic.

The problem there is that if you produce a card or (in my case) a juggling ball they just think "yes, you're holding a card/ball" and either can't remember, or can't make the connection between the fact that, 2 seconds ago, you wern't.

Appreciate this is not the case for all those with dementia, and that there will be plenty with it that can enjoy magic; but in the cases of the ladies and gentleman I occasionally introduce myself to, it sadly is.

by your logic you could go up to thenm holding a card and just say Presto.

there never going to remember it was there all the time.

( just make sure your dressed like a magician though)

Kevin Cann wrote:I am desperately holding back on the flood of jokes !

Thank you

Kevin Cann wrote:I'd go with what Dale states - quick & visual. Otherwise book a singer instead who can dredge up their long term memory with golden oldies

Golden Oldie singing acts are the main thing they get in. And there's a couple of residents that can really sing! Sad to say they can't really hold a conversation with you about it afterwards though.

but it shows that there is a memory there, and the secret is to tap into that, and remind them of magic they may of seen back in the day. People like Tommy Cooper, or David Nixon..
Memorable characters...

daleshrimpton wrote:by your logic you could go up to thenm holding a card and just say Presto.

there never going to remember it was there all the time.

( just make sure your dressed like a magician though)

Yeah, but they're not going to see it as magic.

Though perhaps maybe doing exactly the same thing while wearing a top hat and cape and holding a cane might have a different effect.
Interesting thought that.

edit:

daleshrimpton wrote:but it shows that there is a memory there, and the secret is to tap into that, and remind them of magic they may of seen back in the day. People like Tommy Cooper, or David Nixon..
Memorable characters...

Yep!

I may contradict myself and actually see how this would play out.

cool. I will be interested to hear.. See my old auntie Rene bless her,( she died a few years ago) had chronic dementia.. BUT she remembered vividly looking after me when my sister was born. ( I was 4) right up to the day she died.
My Nan, 87, remembers odd things.. but also specific events and names.. but little else.

My Auntie grace, shes having trouble all teh time, and now has helpers in every day.. shes becomming a worry .. Talk about Panto, and she can go on about it for hours...

Its finding that hook, something memorable, something the can ascociate with a magician.. like teh cloak and cane.. and they will recognize tha what your dong is magic.

Kids are like that in a way.

I love Dales idea of trying to rejig old memories, perhaps pick an old, famous routine that they're going to remember. Tommy Cooper is a perfect suggestion as he's instantly recognisable with the fez and his mannerisms.

quite a few years ago i did a gig at a home, and found that the one trick that registered was a routine in which i used half crowns..

Coin magic with old coins ticked teh right box.. and if you were to use old coins in a close up setting, before the magic, you talk about the coins.Tell then that you are using old money.. when it was worth something.. ask them, do you remember coins like these? .. it triggers off thought processes in a quite amazing way.

Again, Ill say its like kids, but in a different way.

in childrens magic, you show a picture of a cow.. and ask them to say teh noise... mooo.

this teaches the children what a cow is.

In dementia, what i think you are doing, is reparing the link between their memory, and the object.

Bridge building.

all my grandparents and their siblings had dementia, (I think all but one have since died) I'd take my grandmother somewhere and in the car she would ask me every 5 minutes who I was. And after each time she would ask me to bear with her as she knows I must be some sort of family because she knows that there is something wrong with her that must affect her memory. It was heartbreaking, and then in the same breath she would ask me if I ever see Jack (her husband who died 5 yrs earlier) or her brother who had been dead for 20 yrs.

So yes if you can link something back to the distant past it may stick with them. Otherwise things like the linking rings. (just two rings please) because there is no memory, a quick professors nightmare, things along those lines.

In the end however it is not the effects in these cases, it is the company they really crave. Good for you for even thinking about it.

Quite often those with severe dementia who have been long term residents will recognise carers they have known for a long time.

Another possibility is to do anything that creates a laughter reaction from their carer as this can provoke the same reaction from the resident.

An example maybe a silk routine that keeps growing and growing which is draped around the carer, causing them to look a little silly and laughing x