Dementia Treatment
Now old textbooks treat senility
Dementia Treatment
"TOKYO: Special reprinted editions of primary school textbooks on Japanese language and other subjects are being increasingly used in Japan to treat dementia.
The utilisation of old textbooks for the treatment of patients suffering from senility was introduced in the United States in the early 1960s as a means to stir their memories of their earlier life in hope of stimulating brain activity.ﾊ A growing number of care facilities in Japan are adopting such material to look after the elderly psychologically.
The textbook on language was used to teach first grade children in primary school the ﾒkatakanaﾓ square form syllabary from 1904 to the end of World War II in 1945.ﾊ It contains well-known phrases such as, ﾒsaita saita sakuraga saitaﾓ (the cherry trees are in bloom).
The reprinted version is printed on coarse paper to give the elderly the same rough touch of the original textbook when they were young. The illustrations are also printed in the light tones of the initial textbook.
A woman aged 101 said the republished textbook gave her a nostalgic feeling and she recited a sentence she remembered: ﾒA pigeon, beans, a measuring cup...Thereﾕs a crow in front (of us)...and a sparrow, too.ﾓ
Yukiko Kurokawa, a clinical psychologist and the director of Keisei-Kai Institute of Gerontology, got together with five persons aged 98 to 104 and, using the old textbook as a subject of discussion, heard what they had to say about when they were in primary school.ﾊ They reminisced, saying such things as, ﾒThe textbook I studied was even older than this.ﾓ ﾒThe textbook was not free and I bought mine.ﾓ ﾒI used an empty ﾔmikanﾕ (tangerine) box because there werenﾕt enough desks.ﾓ
Kurokawa, 49, said that even persons with perceptual disturbance find it easy to remember things they learned in the early stage of their life or those which they learned by rote. ﾒTextbooks they read repeatedly at the age of six or seven perfectly meet the conditionsﾓ for old people to remember something they learned during their childhood, she said."
Daily News and Analysis, India, November 16, 2005
Dementia Treatment
"TOKYO: Special reprinted editions of primary school textbooks on Japanese language and other subjects are being increasingly used in Japan to treat dementia.
The utilisation of old textbooks for the treatment of patients suffering from senility was introduced in the United States in the early 1960s as a means to stir their memories of their earlier life in hope of stimulating brain activity.ﾊ A growing number of care facilities in Japan are adopting such material to look after the elderly psychologically.
The textbook on language was used to teach first grade children in primary school the ﾒkatakanaﾓ square form syllabary from 1904 to the end of World War II in 1945.ﾊ It contains well-known phrases such as, ﾒsaita saita sakuraga saitaﾓ (the cherry trees are in bloom).
The reprinted version is printed on coarse paper to give the elderly the same rough touch of the original textbook when they were young. The illustrations are also printed in the light tones of the initial textbook.
A woman aged 101 said the republished textbook gave her a nostalgic feeling and she recited a sentence she remembered: ﾒA pigeon, beans, a measuring cup...Thereﾕs a crow in front (of us)...and a sparrow, too.ﾓ
Yukiko Kurokawa, a clinical psychologist and the director of Keisei-Kai Institute of Gerontology, got together with five persons aged 98 to 104 and, using the old textbook as a subject of discussion, heard what they had to say about when they were in primary school.ﾊ They reminisced, saying such things as, ﾒThe textbook I studied was even older than this.ﾓ ﾒThe textbook was not free and I bought mine.ﾓ ﾒI used an empty ﾔmikanﾕ (tangerine) box because there werenﾕt enough desks.ﾓ
Kurokawa, 49, said that even persons with perceptual disturbance find it easy to remember things they learned in the early stage of their life or those which they learned by rote. ﾒTextbooks they read repeatedly at the age of six or seven perfectly meet the conditionsﾓ for old people to remember something they learned during their childhood, she said."
Daily News and Analysis, India, November 16, 2005
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