Welcome to NEO Boomer’s newest blog, Aging and Life Enhancement.
This helpful blog is written by our long-time Brain Games magazine columnist, Kathryn Kilpatrick, M.A., Speech-Language Pathologist and Geriatric Life Enhancement Consultant. (Her work even appeared in our very first magazine issue, nine years ago, with a memory fitness overview page.) In her blog, she will tackle many aspects of enhancing the aging process, with a special focus on caregiving and brain health from her perspective as a speech-language pathologist.
Kathryn’s career as a speech-language pathologist (1969-2019) includes experience primarily in Ohio at hospitals, rehabilitation centers and for 35 years in the area of home health care.
A national motivational speaker and author of more than 35 products, she is currently focusing on her geriatric life enhancement consulting practice and educational programs to enhance the quality of life of older adults, including memory fitness and brain health.
Quality of Life at Any Age
By Kathryn Kilpatrick, M.A., Speech-Language Pathologist & Geriatric Life Enhancement Consultant
Quality of life, whether it is yours or that of another person, matters! With my extensive background as a speech-language pathologist for over 50 years, I am grateful for this opportunity to share what proactive strategies can help to maximize your functioning through the decades. I will also demonstrate how those with hearing, speech and cognitive issues can also enjoy a quality of life as you learn to meet them where they are as changes occur.
Information is the seed for an idea, and only grows when it is watered. ~Heinze V. Bergen
One of the keys to successful aging and your brain health is to remain engaged and consider the recommendations of the most recent research. Have you addressed any changes in your hearing? When you begin to avoid situations or experiences, you lose the benefits of socialization and learning new information. Add to that any difficulty with vision or the ability to “get around” and gradually, your world of experiences declines, whether they are ones you typically enjoy or new ones you might want to try. These are keys to maintaining brain health as well as your quality of life.
Then consider someone you know — family member, friend or an acquaintance, and their situations. As a speech-language pathologist, one of my goals was to assess the challenges of older and younger patients, and educate those in their circle of friends and family members, near and far. Once you learn the challenges, interests and more about their support system, it is possible to enhance their quality of life with suggestions for activity modification.
As I walked the journey with my mom who lived out of state, her hearing and memory challenges were very frustrating to her. These are typical issues and there are options depending on the willingness of others to learn appropriate modifications.
- With her hearing loss, even though Mom had a hearing aid, it hampered her participation in family gatherings, especially with active younger grandchildren. Once the meal was over, she preferred to do dishes or sit in the other room and “pretend” she was interested in a show. It was her way of reducing her frustration. In this type of situation, whether the person has a hearing aid or not, there are many suggestions that would be appropriate so withdrawal is not the only option.
- My mom introduced me to Scrabble very early on and it was “our thing” when I visited. Her hearing one-on-one was not an issue when she got a hearing aid, if you spoke slowly and eliminated background noises, but when she had trouble thinking of words, we changed the rules. She created a short word cheat sheet list we could refer to so then no longer keeping score became the new strategy. We still enjoyed our Scrabble time together.
Aging and Life Enhancement will share suggestions for how to keep yourself tuned in to what matters if you want to maximize your interactions through the years. If you want to be more proactive, perhaps you will be motivated by certain suggestions and/or want to involve others. Equally important is opening your thought process to modification strategies when those in your circle of family and friends are facing some decreased ability to engage in activities they used to enjoy.
The real voyage of discovery consists not in new landscapes but in having new ideas. ~Marcel Proust
