Sometimes I Only Have Theraputty to Work with… Here’s How I Turn it into a Therapeutic Intervention

As a PRN therapist, some facilities just don’t have a lot of tools for cognitive intervention. And if a Resident is not interested in any of the equipment that I’ve brought with me (limited as it is), I can feel a little stuck.

So here’s how I’ve started using Therapy Putty to address cognition.

Direction-Following with Visual Scanning.

We’ve all seen the beads-in-the-putty trick. Tell the Resident to find specific beads based on verbal descriptors you provide. “Find a pink bead.” “Find a bead shaped like a star.” “Find a large bead.” This will not only require recall and processing of the direction, but also good visual scanning skills.

Multi-Step Direction-Following.

“Find 15 beads in this putty, place them in this cup, and then let me know when you’ve found 15 beads so that I can give you the next direction.” For someone living with dementia, this will feel like a lot of information. Multi-step directions really help to increase neurosynapses needed for better overall cognitive function.

If I can find a bead organizer, I’ll ask the Resident to sort the beads into the corresponding color as they retrieve each bead from the putty.

Sustained Attention to Task.

For folks whose dementia is a bit more progressed, I’ve used bead retrieval from putty to assess and address sustained attention. I’ll prompt the Resident on what to do, and then I’ll sit with them and work on my own can of putty, timing how long the Resident can maintain attention to task before requiring cues for redirection or before we need to task terminate and move on to something else.