Patty Sherin - Brick by Brick Bonding: Tools for Family Care: Activities for Seniors Living with Alzheimers and Dementia and Their Care Partners

Copyright 2022 Patty Sherin and Laura Herman

Published by Patty Sherin at Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.If you would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre readingthis book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for yourenjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or yourfavorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of these authors.

Disclaimer:

LEGO, Duplo, and Minifigures are trademarks of theLEGO Group of companies which do not sponsor, authorize, or endorsethis book. Opinions presented are our own and do not representviews or opinions of the LEGO Group.

The Caregiving Years, Six Stages to a MeaningfulJourney are trademarks of Denise M. Brown, Owner and Founder of The Caregiving Years Training Academy. The following descriptionsand uses provided with the permission of Denise M. Brown.

Brick By Brick Bonding logo and technique aretrademarks of Patty Sherin.

Names in this book have been changed to protectpeoples identities.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my daughter, Jessica. Myrock.

You can do anything you set your mind to.

For Michael, Hercules, and Emmeryn. Thanks for makingme want to be in the moment with you. I love you so much.

Table of Contents

FORWARD

Ive been a LEGO lover for almost all of my life andgiven that Ill turn 64 in January 2023 thats saying something!!My Mom gave me my first set at age 5 and we sat together everychance we got to build lots of creative things! We built allthrough my childhood and kept it going into adulthood too. Wheneverwe played with the LEGO bricks, Mom would chat freely, even if wewere talking about difficult subjects! Without the LEGO bricks shewould hesitate before she spoke as if she was searching for theright words or trying to find the courage to share what she reallywanted to say. One of those difficult topics we needed to talkabout was dementia, after she received that devastating diagnosisin 2006.

She was visibly upset after her originalneurologist who truly lacked empathy said to her you are in thebeginning stages of dementia and I tried my best to calm her downas we walked to the car to head home. As we started the drive Iasked her what she was thinking and feeling, but all I got was amumbled I dont know. I got her bag of LEGO bricks and lap deskout and asked her to build how she was feeling. In the bag wereseveral LEGO minifigures including one with gray hair that I usedto represent her in our social media posts. She grabbed thatminifigure and immediately took its head off, held up the remainingbody and said I feel like in a few years Im going to lose myhead! I was blown away by her response and how profound it was!!It clearly showed how easy it was for Mom to express herselfaccurately with LEGO!! Later that day I posted her response and aminifigure holding its head in its hand on social media and thatstarted quite the discussion on the power of LEGO bricks and Momsconnection to them!

After her diagnosis we played with the LEGObricks even more and it was not only fun and engaging for her, italso greatly reduced her anxiety. Shortly before Moms diagnosiswhile on the LEGO website ordering a few sets, I learned ofsomething called LEGO Serious Play (LSP) which is a methodologycreated by The LEGO Group and several consultants in 1996 to helporganizations strategize and communicate more effectively. I wasimmediately intrigued and believed that I could use LSP to help Momand others diagnosed with dementia. I became a trained LSPfacilitator in 2014 after Mom forgot who I was and ourrelationship, and I used it with her with great success whichspurred me to use it with others as well! I went around the countryusing LSP with caregivers and those with dementia building joy,hope, superpowers and strategies and realized this work was mycalling! In November of 2021 our deep connection with LEGO bricksresulted in Mom and I being selected as one of Robin RobertsThriver Thursday features which recognizes individuals who thrivein spite of obstacles! Mom died on January 31, 2022, having lived atotal of 16 years with the disease and I shared much of our journeyand our LEGO building together on social media. Many peoplesuggested that I was the only one in the US who was using LEGObricks with individuals with dementia. I didnt actually believethat was true and when I did a search on LinkedIn I was thrilled todiscover the profile of Patty Sherin! We met several times onZoom discussing our work with LEGO bricks and seniors and thosewith dementia and we really hit it off!! We had such a greatconnection that in March 2022 when I flew to Oregon to visit mycousin, Patty picked me up at the airport, toured me all aroundPortland and allowed me to spend the night in her home beforedropping me off to my cousin the next day! That overnight visit ledto even more discussion about our work with LEGO and Pattymentioned that she was in the process of writing a book about allher wonderful experiences with her clients that would serve as aguide for those who wanted to do LEGO activities with their familymembers and friends! I told Patty how excited I was to read herbook and to recommend it to some of the folks I work with!!

I knew Brick By Brick Bonding Tools forFamily Care: Activities for Seniors Living with Alzheimers andDementia and Their Care Partners by Patty Sherin and Laura Hermanwould be great because Patty is so passionate about this work thatshe poured herself into it and I absolutely LOVED every word of thebook!

It was easy to read, insightful and hadamazing tools and tips to turn any LEGO Bonding session into arousing success! I learned so much from the book because eventhough Patty and I do very different things in our work with LEGObricks, some of the things she shares in the book will absolutelyenhance my work with seniors and family and professionalcaregivers.

One of my favorite parts of the book was thediscussion of the types of builders because while Ive experiencedevery type of builder mentioned The Builder, The Sorter, TheDesigner, The Innovator, and The Purpose Seeker Id never thoughtof names for the various types of builder styles or the types ofbehaviors that often go along with each of the styles! Thesebehaviors and the accompanying builder tips were excellent!

The most powerful section of the book for mewas the section on tracking the results of the sessions andrecording the duration, the amount of laughter and what was built,as well as any emotional or behavioral changes that occurred! Thosetips will help me tremendously in my own work with seniors, carepartners and those with dementia because tracking data associatedwith the sessions can serve as evidence of the effectiveness of thework Im doing! I had 16 years to personally experience how LEGObricks impacted my Mom after dementia came into our lives, butbecause I only see some of the people I work with once or twice Ididnt think about the value of recording anything other than adescription and photo of what they built. I will now also recordand track changes in mood, demeanor and / or behavior from both thestart and end of the sessions to see what the results are anddetermine if I need to alter or change my processes in any way.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book foranyone wanting to create meaningful engagement and joyful memorieswith those with cognitive issues! Just like me they are likely toget much more from the book than expected.

- Loretta Veney

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my parents and ancestors if itwasnt for them, I would not be here.