Games to Bridge the Gap
New Pastimes Help Connect Family Members to Relatives with Dementia
From: Washington Post - 04/15/2008
By: Beth Baker

Generations of family members have bonded over a hot game of Old Maid or
Monopoly. Now a handful of entrepreneurs and researchers are demonstrating
that some newer games can be a bridge to family members who have dementia. 

Researchers who have designed several of these games don't pretend that their
use will boost memory in people with brain disease. The goal, says
psychiatrist Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities
at George Washington University and developer of the board game Making
Memories Together, is to improve quality of life, rather than memory.  

Equally important, some say, is the emotional link that game-playing offers
younger, healthier family members to those with dementia.  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103487.html

Links:
Gene Cohen
http://www.gwumc.edu/cahh/about/cohen.htm

Center on Aging, Health & Humanities
http://www.gwumc.edu/cahh/

Lydia Burdick
http://www.healthpropress.com/sos/speakers/burdickbio.htm

Two-Lap Books
http://www.healthpropress.com/sos/speakers/burdickbio.htm

The Sunshine on My Face
http://alzheimers-books.com/books/#sunshine

Making Memories Together
http://www.genco-games.com/making-memories.html

National Institute on Aging
http://www.nia.nih.gov/

It's Never 2 Late
http://www.in2l.com/

Memories Squared
http://www.dotcollinsquilter.com/Workshop4.htm

Being With Being
http://www.beingwithbeing.com/

Reading Roundtable Stories
http://store.myersresearch.org/rero.html

Myers Research Institute
http://www.menorahpark.org/research.htm

Michelle Bourgeois
http://www.comm.fsu.edu/Faculty/michellebourgeois.php
http://www.comm.fsu.edu/Headlines/20070330-01.php

Rhonda Anderson, founder of Creative Memories
http://www.creativememories.com/
http://www.creativememories.co.za/home.asp

Tips for Choosing or Making Games
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103486.html