Before you introduce any activity to someone with dementia, the brain is already processing everything in the room. The Sensory Spoke of the Wheel of Function Framework™ helps caregivers and care professionals identify when sensory overload or underload is shutting down engagement, and what to change first. Part 3 of a six-part series on activities and the Wheel of Function Framework™.
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When someone living with dementia pushes away an activity, refuses without explanation, or sits through something without really connecting, the answer is rarely about the activity itself. It is almost always about what is happening emotionally first. Here is how to read those signals and what to do about them.
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Most activity advice for dementia caregivers starts in the wrong place. The Wheel of Function Framework™ gives caregivers and care professionals a clinically grounded way to read what the brain needs before any activity begins. Learn what actually works when nothing else has.
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In 11 years at the Maine Veterans’ Home, physical therapist Carlyn Lenfestey witnessed something that still catches her off guard: veterans who could not tell her what year it was could describe the color of the water at Omaha Beach at first light. This Memorial Day, she writes about the neuroscience behind why emotional memories often outlast dementia, and what that understanding means for everyone who cares for someone living with it.
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Researchers and healthcare leaders are finally beginning to talk more openly about the daily realities of dementia caregiving. But for many families, these conversations are long overdue.
In this article, Carlyn Lenfestey, physical therapist and creator of the Wheel of Function Framework, explores why caregivers often recognize changes in function long before healthcare systems do, and why behavior in dementia should be understood as a signal instead of simply a problem to manage.
Drawing from both personal family experience and years of clinical work in dementia care, this post examines:
- why dementia care is about more than memory loss
- how sensory overload, emotional regulation, and changing brain function affect daily life
- why caregivers need interpretation tools, not just instructions
- what current dementia research is beginning to recognize about caregiver insight and real-world support
If you have ever felt like you were trying to navigate dementia without a roadmap, this article will help you understand why.
