Bible Study Help for Adults With Dementia?

Richard, congratulations and God's blessings on your new call to serve as chaplain at HCH. Two suggestions:
1. Together Small Groups (I've written some of the theological introductions) has been adapted for groups of people with and without dementia. 

2. Do you (or the HCH library) have a copy of Handbook for Worship: Christian Worship Experiences for Persons with Dementia? If not, please get in touch with me privately. I may be able to get you a copy. 

Mark

We don't have adults with dementia in our adult Bible study, but we do have adults with intellectual disabilities, and we've found that the videos at The Bible Project https://bibleproject.com/explore/ are wonderful. Although they're animated, they're more aimed at adults, but they're easy to understand and fun to watch. And they have lots of videos. That said, I'm an enormous fan of The Jesus Storybook Bible--I use it when I work with children, and I read it through as my own devotional practice one year. You can't go wrong with it :-)  I'm curious about God's Big Story Cards, from Faith Alive. I use them in a children's Sunday school, but there isn't a reason why it couldn't work for adults with dementia--there are 5 different activities in the same 5 categories for every Bible story (there are over 140 stories). Some are words to repeat, sometimes you act out the story, sometimes you draw things or make stuff with PlayDoh. It might be worth exploring.

I have worked with seniors in 4 senior living centers that span from independent to ALC to Memory Care for the past 7 years. In that time I have not used any curriculum but have used the lectionary texts and commentary and have found that if I can simply tell the "STORY" that the interest stays high and that it opens the possibility for interjecting commentary on contemporary illustrations so as to tie it back into things they "still" know or remember. Hymns of course work well in that seems to be part of the brain that is less affected by the memory loss and triggers memories from their earlier life which they usually sing with gusto. 

I have also found that all of this works well with those who are aging but not affected by dementia or memory loss. Sometimes I think that the church puts too much emphasis on making the theological point and getting across the "lesson" but if we remember, Jesus taught best when he told stories and the more familiar the text in our case, the better. If we can provide new learnings on old favorite texts for short bursts it keeps their attention, even when we think they are asleep or not paying attention.

The best thing we can give in any worship, preaching, teaching setting is LOVE and Fellowship and reconnecting them with one another and with God.

At least that is what consistently works for me.

Three of us with one guitar sang in nursing homes featuring favorite hymns but we would always catch their attention whenever we would sing children's favorites, e.g., "Jesus Loves Me...or Jesus Loves the Little Children...the B I B L E, yes that's the book for me. We would watch lips moving with occasional humming of simple children's melodies. Inspiring to us was this scene always.

Hi Richard -- I'm sorry I didn't see this request until today. I'm a chaplain with a particular focus on people with dementia. I've created and offer more than a year's worth free, dementia-friendly Bible study discussion guides on my website, SpiritualEldercare.com. I've found that interactive discussions like this work extremely well with people with dementia, including groups of 15-20 people. As soon as covid is over, I'll also be exploring using art that connects to the passage, projected on a large screen, as an added sensory option during discussion. Bless you for seeking out how to care for these dear seniors. 

Richard, 

If you haven't checked out Godly Play yet, it could work as well. Interactive and able to modify for adults/dementia. I've used a few of the stories where I am, and they were a huge hit