Aging Parents: Languages, Dementia, and the Resilient Brain
Read a Wall Street Journal article that describes how people who speak multiple languages appear to have brains that resist some of the early symptoms and brain damage of dementia. The article, Building a More Resilient Brain, describes how a concept called cognitive reserve, often well-developed in bilingual individuals, may enable the brain to continue working even when damage or stress occurs.
Researchers who have examined the brains of dementia patients have found that the dementia damage in bilingual and non-bilingual individuals is roughly the same, however, the more severe and observable symptoms of the disease appear to be delayed by several years in people who speak another language. The reporter, Shirley Wang, details these statistics in the online article which also features an interesting chart and video.
Guest Post: Adult Child Develops iPad Apps for Senior Mom
Paul Rhoades is an adult child and a subscriber to As Our Parents Age. He keeps an eye on his 90-year-old mother and has introduced her to the iPad. I’ve looked at his apps, developed to help her use the iPad more effectively, but I have not been anywhere near my dad’s iPad so I have not downloaded them. Paul’s story, explaining how he has jumped into the iPad application design business, is interesting and, I think, worth sharing. Take a look at Paul’s applications if you are currently helping a senior parent learn how to use an iPad. He has also written an interesting iPad help document which is available for free on his website. Pretty cool for an adult child to observe a parent’s technology needs and get right on with developing a better and more helpful solution.Paul’s iPad Post
As a retired senior living in Ottawa, Canada, I have a long history with computing. My first job after graduating from university in 1966 was as a computer programmer with a life insurance company headquartered in Ottawa, and I even programmed Honeywell 800 computers in assembler language with punch cards. I have never been far from the industry, and I have seen many new developments in the high-tech arena over that time but none have excited me as much as the iPad.
Presently I am building iPad apps for seniors and others who have limited computer experience. Many people look to the iPad to as an entry point because of its accessible user interface. After observing my 90-year old Mom struggle with some of the simplest iPad applications, I decided to build her some. For example, she had never used a calculator because she didn’t know what some of the symbols meant. So I built her a calculator with no symbols, just words.
Becoming A Grown-up Child
One day in April 2007 my husband and I were the adult kids in our families — we are the only adult children
— and the next day we became what we laughingly call “real grown-ups,” helping first one, then two, and increasingly all three of our parents. It’s time to give back, and we do so willingly and happily. However the process is not easy, and it is not free from anxiety and tension. Check out the As Our Parents Age About page to learn more about the mission of this blog.
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Copyright and Attribution Info
As Our Parents Age by Marti Weston is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on work at AsOurParentsAge.wordpress.com and AsOurParentsAge.net
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by emailing As Our Parents Age. To learn more about this blog go to the AsYourParentsAge About page.
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