18 / 40
sensory approach may result in a genuinely joint
endeavour between individuals with the
condition and practitioners or carers to identify
appropriate sensory experiences as ways other
than verbal communication to create sensory
stories. Even in the later stages, the person’s
responses to different stimuli may facilitate ‘co-
production’ of this kind. Harry* and his wife
worked together to identify smells that triggered
holiday memories. In exploring sun creams, they
discovered that massaging his arms with the
cream increased his responses – the multisensory,
tactile element and the physical actions associated
with the event were a stronger connection than
the smell alone.
The multisensory narrative may retain its
impact through the various stages of dementia as
verbal understanding decreases. Marian* and her
husband paired a piece of music with a sentence
about their 1940s dancing. She described him
moving his feet upon hearing the music within
the story, as he communicated “I remember
dancing with you” without words. Perhaps
experiencing the music in the context of his life
history was important.
Re-telling a sensory life story as dementia
progresses should maintain the familiarity and
predictability of the stimuli. Marian reads her
husband’s story to him every morning as part of
their routine and believes he feels calmer with this
familiar start to each day.
Sensory life stories also empower individuals
with dementia to
tell
their stories, because they
can be told effectively without relying on words.
This may encourage confidence in ‘total
communication’, strategies using multiple modes
of communication which value non-speech forms
(Jones 2000) and increase communicative
effectiveness in people with dementia (Royal
College of Speech and Language Therapists 2013).
Telling a story creates opportunities for
connecting with others. For example, Mary* (who
created a story about her career in the post office)
wished she had had her story when her children
were young, so that she might have shared her
memories in a way she felt would interest them.
This reflection gave her courage to tell it to her
grandchildren despite significant difficulties
using verbal communication.
Finally, Edward’s* wife viewed the process as
something she could do to help. The shared goal of
identifying stimuli provided a purposeful focus.
Sensory life stories can empower the individual
with dementia and the people around them.
Group sensory storytelling
Sensory stories can be implemented as a group
activity in dementia care settings. Such settings
generally utilise various group activities and
multisensory approaches, but sensory storytelling
might address some of the shortcomings of
existing approaches.
Multisensory environments can promote well-
being by offering opportunities to communicate
through the senses rather than language (Pagliano
2008) but they may fail to offer appropriate
contexts for the sensory experiences, resulting in a
lack of satisfaction and under-use (Jakob & Collier
2014). A sensory story on a familiar topic offers
both sensory experiences and a meaningful
context related to life beyond the care
environment.
Social group activities, such as gardening or
baking, have sensory elements and reminiscence
therapy exploits multiple senses on the basis that
sensory stimuli can trigger memories (Schweitzer
& Bruce 2008). However, active participation in
these activities may be limited for people with
more severe dementia. By contrast, experiencing a
sensory story does not require active recall of past
events (as reminiscence therapy may) or physical
and/or verbal participation (as most social group
activities do). Furthermore, sensory stories can be
tailored to meet the sensory preferences and
cognitive skills of the individuals in the group.
The start of an activity session can be
disorientating for someone with dementia; for
example, they may have to move to a different
area and wait for other group members to arrive,
which can create anxiety. On the other hand, the
repeated use of a sensory story as a predictable
part of a reminiscence or activity session could
help to build familiarity and reduce anxiety.
A sensory story on a generic topic such as
holidays or celebrations may trigger memories for
group members and encourage them to share
18
Australian Journal of Dementia Care
December 2016/January 2017 Vol 5 No 6
Box 1. Sentences and sensory experiences:
a story across the lifespan
“We got married in 1947 and I wore my Royal Navy
uniform” (visual stimulus: blue fabric with three
white stripes).
“At gymnastics we had to put chalk dust on our
hands to use the bars” (tactile stimulus: chalk dust
on hands).
Above and next page:
Coralie Oddy leads a
group sensory
storytelling session at
the Centre for Wildlife
Gardening in
south-east London
Box 2. Sentences and sensory experiences: a story of one memory
“Walter copied a caption: ‘Fry’s chocolate, delicious and nourishing’” (taste /
smell stimulus: chocolate on tongue or chocolate lip balm).
“Painting takes Walter into his own little world of concentration and rhythm” (tactile
/ kinaesthetic stimulus: rhythmical sweeping of soft paintbrush on forearm or paper).