Media Coverage
WABE (November 21, 2023). A new children’s book on how to care for people with dementia. City Lights. Radio interview. Hosted by: Lois Reitzes.
https://www.wabe.org/a-new-childrens-book-on-how-to-care-for-people-with-dementia-citylights/
Fenster, J.N. (August 26, 2023). Connecticut researcher writes children’s book that debunks misconceptions about dementia. CT Insider.
https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/eilon-caspi-ct-dementia-children-s-book-18328668.php
Aldrich, A.Z. (October 28, 2021). InCHIP researcher’s book promotes understanding, prevention of harmful incidents between residents with dementia. UConn Today.
Endorsements
We all simply need to forget a lot of what we’ve been told about Alzheimer’s……..Once again, Dr. Eilon Caspi and team has created a masterpiece. “What I’ve learned about Grandma’s Memory”, while written primarily for children, the lessons are universal. This is a must have guide for all people, children, adults, care partners, providers, and practitioners who want to be and do their best to honor all people touched with and by memory loss…..Eilon’s book is simple, yet beautiful, profound, effective, and emotionally and spiritually touching……….we all need to slow down….and be present.
– Dustin Lee, owner, Prairie Senior Cottages
“Authors Elion Caspi and Michelle Ignatowiz share loving lessons of connectedness with their grandmothers who have been labelled as having dementia. Most profoundly they show why it is important to listen to your own heart in the context of long, intergenerational, reciprocal caring relationships, rather than to the advocates and experts who think they know, but don’t. Their message is based on practical deep experiential wisdom, not narrow conceptions of scientific data. These lessons are what the whole world needs as ageing associated cognitive changes challenge us all”
Peter Whitehouse MD-PhD
Professor and founder of The Intergenerational Schools
Author of the book The Myth of Alzheimer’s Disease and co-author of the book American Dementia: Brain Health in an Unhealthy Society
Through the wise eyes of a loving child, Eilon Caspi shows us that we can see a person living with dementia based on their capabilities, rather than their deficits. This book deserves to be an essential part of the library of any child–and any adult!
Al Power, MD
Geriatrician and author of the books Dementia Beyond Drugs and Dementia Beyond Disease
Eilon has created an exceptional children’s book that not only identifies & dispels the myths surrounding dementia, and how to validate those needs (Let THEM know you heard them) by using affirming words or actions!
Judy Berry
Founder/CEO, Dementia Specialist Consulting L.L.C.
Former Founder/CEO Lakeview Ranch Inc.
Creator of the Lakeview Ranch Model of Specialized Dementia Care tm
Winner of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2010 Community Health Leaders Award
Recipient of the 2011 Encore Purpose Prize Fellow
The heart understands!
Tender and touching, this story describes how a grandchild’s love connects deeply with the spirit of a grandparent living with Alzheimer’s Disease.
With insight and sensitivity Dr Eilon Caspi inspires creative thinking about ways to engage with loved ones who may seem lost to us because of brain changes due to Alzheimer’s and other Dementias. Even adult children and grandchildren can experience richer relationships by adapting ‘old’ memories to fit, validate, and elevate what remains of their loved ones’ abilities.
Nancy M Haugen, RN BSN PHN MS
President, Elder Voice Advocates
This book is a terrific way to help children understand loved ones who are living with dementia. The story, design and art are all well done and contribute to the meaningfulness of the book. Kudos!
Karen Love
B.A. – Speech and Language Pathology
Former CEO, Dementia Action Alliance
When Alzheimer’s disease affects an individual, it impacts an entire family.
Dr Caspi addresses a much neglected need in how a family explains Alzheimer’s disease to young children. Harder yet, how to explain the changes in the family member’s thinking, language, memory, mood, activity level and, a change in the expressions of love to the younger children in the family.
When the family member with dementia doesn’t respond to the child, he or she mistakenly believes that they did something wrong and therefore they withdraw from the person. And the child and the person with Alzheimer’s disease lose the opportunity to bond in new ways, and that is a shame.
Some years ago I started a support group for young children who had a family member with Alzheimer’s disease living with them. We talked about how the disease changed the person’s memory, mood, and the ability to do some of the things they did before. These changes in the family member were caused by the disease and not anything the children did. I taught the children in the group communication skills that can bring about positive emotions in their family member. We found that a better understanding about the disease decreased the child’s reluctance to engage with the person in meaningful ways, and that, benefits their relationship.
Dr Caspi lays out the ways in which children can understand what the disease is, and how they can better interact with their loved ones through a gentle whimsical story line that is at the child’s level of understanding. This book will change the way your young children understand dementia and it will encourage them to emotionally connect with that part of their family member with Alzheimer’s Disease that is still in there.
Paul Raia PhD, founder, Habilitation Therapy for people with dementia
What a Stigma Buster this book is for dementia! I was so drawn into the beautiful style in which this book highlights so many common statements about dementia which are false. The story told of a child’s insights is lovely. Honest, authentic, and simple to understand and implement at any age. Kudos to Eilon Caspi for hitting this book out of the park. Families, communities, libraries, and schools will all want this book!
Lori La Bey – Founder of Alzheimer’s Speaks, co-founder of Dementia Map global resource directory, and Author of Betty the Bald Chicken- Lesson in How to Care