Repost: Sensory Stimulation

Years ago when I worked at a nursing home as an activity director, I decided to use a picture to provoke a conversation for a group activity. It was the picture of the blacksmith shoeing a horse underneath a tree. One of the ladies had extreme memory loss (we didn't know about Alzheimer's disease then). She could answer questions sometimes but she couldn't remember what she did 10 minutes before. You know the story. Anyway, several of the residents commented on the memories the picture provoked. One lady told about how her father was a blacksmith but he didn't go out of business when cars became so popular. He just learned to work on them and did very well. Mrs. B., the lady with the memory loss, who hardly knew her name anymore, began to speak in her weak, not used very much voice, and recited the entire poem "The Village Blacksmith", word for word. Needless to say we all had tears streaming down our faces. After that recitation, she became quiet and re-entered her little world. It is one of the grandest memories I have.