[suggestions to help with mental stimulation?]

[TNstroke61306]

 

 

 

I'd be interested in information about games, puzzles etc that help with stroke victims (for my husband George) He needs to have some mental stimulation. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

 

Wendie

[kanderson]

hi wendie. i play hand held games like yahtzee, sudoku,& connect four, sudoku also comes in a written puzzle book, its a number puzzle, both challenging and fun. hope these suggestions are helpful to you. kimmie

[Guest veggie.vampire]

If he can't use a pen sudoku is available from msn for a pc - I use it and only requires a mouse click to use. If he's able to do it, scrabble? Could start with basic words if need be. Widely available on a pc as well as the board version. Or good old cards, guess who, cluedo etc as board games. With a partner I played connect 4, a derivative with marbles, good for dexterity too as many of these games are. A national newspaper has a good game you could replicate, you get 9 letters that make up a word (not proper noun, fancy phrase for a name) and plurals not allowed, only use the letter twice if 2 given. There are many hand held electronic games available. Clinton cards had a "brain trainer", hand held games for

[cam1960]

Hi wendie,

I highly recommend Pretty Good Solitaire, it has several hundred different games and is available as a free trial download.

All you need is a mouse click to play, and it keeps track of your score. That way you can see if you're progressing. It's a real confidence booster for me.

Carol

[bstockman]

I also use computer games. i have found some on line at e bay and several at Target or Walmart. One is Brain Games. it has puzzles, that you can set to large pieces with less amout of pieces on up to quite challenging ones. Has some "matching games" and "find the difference between 2 pictures.

 

I also play Mahjongg there are several varieties and many start with easy levels and you work your wa up.

 

I just got Hoyle Board games and there is a variety of games and has the options of easy, intermediate and expert.

 

[jwatrous]

Wendie -

This month marks 21 years for me post stroke, and when I came home, I watched all game shows that would challenge my thinking skills, and did go back to correspondence school. Keeping busy this way helped keep my mind sharp

June

[TNstroke61306]

Thank you all for the suggestions. George actually played cards with me while he was in Rehab, he kept saying 5 cards and what he meant was play rummy, so we played and he did real well.

 

Wendie :throw:

[tom71]

I love the word games like bookworm and text twist.

God Bless,

Tom

[rosejill]

I, like Tom, play text twist alot. There are alot of good word games that are good for the mind on the Yahoo web site- just click on games and start playing for free.....rosejill

[jriva]

.

 

Games and puzzles for mental stimulation are great and should be done by everyone---survivors and caregivers a like. But they aren't an option for every survivor. Some, like my husband, couldn't read until he was a few years post stroke. Aside from speech homework, what worked the best to stimulate him back then was for me to get him out of the house as much as possible so that he could interact with other people. I think sometimes when someone after a stroke is allowed to stay at home too much, they start thinking of themselves as a victim and they become afraid of being in public thus they will start stagnating at home.

 

Jean

[Deenie]

I absolutely agree with you that you have to get the survivor out in the public as soon and as often as possible.. In our case it was very hard for him to be seen in public as he felt that everyone was watching him and knew that he had problems. This was not true and going out to a cafeteria for coffee and poutine or a burger was very good for his self esteem and not the best for his health .. However when I told him he had a bit of his meal on his face he would get very angry and tell me I was being a bi;;; and that everyone could hear me... we are over that now I think and can go to better resturants and he can order and enjoy the food and the company.. I ate a lot of poutine and donuts until I realized if we shred it was just as good and it was the interaction that he needed and not the coffee and goodies...also seek a word is very goo and any kind of card game with people and friends who don't care if they win as long as the survivor is being mentally stimulated.. Sometimes when the caregiver pretends to be incapable and asks the survivor for help it boosts thier moral...

[preluki]

Hello,

For me Google Earth has been very helpful. It is a free download from Google that alows you search sattelite or aerial imagary of virtually anywhere in the world. Just type in your address and you get an aerial image of your house or anything else. It is really amazing, you can take a virtual tour of almost anywhere. I have been able to find every house I have lived in. It also helped with spacial perspective. The resolution does vary, but especially in big cities you can even see people sunbathing and walking the streets. It is very fascinating. I like to watch the news and then find the locations on Google Earth. To me it is much better than doing puzzles, which is also good.

Hope this helps.

Doug

[lisas]

Rae also likes games. She likes playing the number game UNO.

[mary eliza jade]

My Mom had her stroke four months ago and is struggling to find words, altough it is slowly getting better. I have been doing intense repetitive exercises with her, focusing on basic words and phrases, number 1-10 etc. It seems to work and although she can't count in order, she will all of a sudden come out with some numbers or a word, so I know it has sunk into her brain somewhere!

 

Scrabble letters have been very helpful, as well as a chunky set of dominos - she amazed us all by being able to play and getting the right pieces in the right places!

 

All the best

x

[Outsider]

Speaking strictly from my personal experiences here and because each of us are different and our recovery WILL vary.

In my pre stroke life I was an Over the road truck driver and therefore was used to being in a different town everyday

I was ALWAYS on the move,

coming home after my stay in the hospital then rehab Our house was located right on the main drag through our town and seeing the trucks rolling by daily was almost too much to take because it made me want to get that life back.

I sat down at my wifes computer one day just to play solitaire but before I knew it I was surfing the net just seeing or trying to see what her facination was with it.

I joined my first message board which led me to starting my own.

That alone has helped me tremendously because I've been forced to use my brain.

All I can really suggest is what has been said above, Find ways to activate your brain and KEEP it active everyday you might even suprise yourself at how good you start retaining information.

Remember, no matter how bleak you future may look you CAN recover more than you imagine right now.