Infants and Dementia

We had an interesting Grand Rounds today.  Someone gave a lecture on dementia, and one of the elements that stuck in my head was the way demented people get fixated.  They want to do one thing over and over --- like cook, or leave the house to visit a friend --- and it can be exhausting and frustrating to caregivers to repeatedly deny the demented person this wish.

So the Alzheimer's Association designed these nylon covers that obscure the object of desire.  They make the stove look like a fridge, the door look like a window.  And without the visual stimulus, the demented patient no longer wants to cook, or leave the house.

So of course I immediately thought of Elliot.

I'm not the first person to draw to connection between dementia and infancy.  But it's especially striking now that I see both of them on a regular basis.   Those repetitive behaviors and requests are so similar in both groups.  And simply removing the object takes away the desire.

For Elliot, it's often "Dumpty", the computer game featuring Humpty Dumpty that we got him so that he could bang on the laptop with impunity.  He's fallen in love with it, and whenever he sees the silver top of Hannah's laptop he starts calling out "Dumpty!"

So I guess all that's left is to design a nylon cover that makes a laptop look like something else.  And then sit back and become a millionaire.