My Sister has Zero Motivation with Short Term Memory Exercises

[Chuck]

My sister spent almost a year from rehab clinics to hospitals to rehab clinics. She is home now with a full time attendant. She is given at home therapy, and also taken to rehab almost daily. The physical develop is gradually coming along though she is totally dependent on her caregivers.

 

What I need to address is her short term memory. She has almost no short term memory. I have studied several very good article with lessons for training and exercising the memory muscle. What I now know is that my sister has zero motivation. I will without getting detailed and complicated with this submission.

What I need is to figure out how to fire up, kick start, her motivation.

 

My sister is very aware she has no motivation. I can ask do you want to be inspired, to be motivated and she gives the affirmation. If I can be directed to articles, web pages, and your thoughts on this one difficult hurdle that will be most appreciated. It’s like a massive steel wall. There are no tools. Just flesh and imagination – how to we get from this side /unmotivated to that side /motivated.

 

Thanks

Chuck M

[Richard J]

Sorry to hear about your sister. But to "fire up, kick start, her motivation" all you can do is to be with her whenever you can. Watch TV with her, listen to her favorite music, talk with her about the world in general, not her injury or lack of anything. She knows. She is still in the "healing/recovery" process and that's a long strange trip. God bless you for being with her.

[TBI Survivors Network]

that is petty normal, and it is a tough road, but it gets easier as time goes on,,

[Joan M]

it just takes time dont lose faith we have to believe

[DENISE ALDRICH]

Chuck, what a blessing u r. I too have a tbi with caregivers and much therapy, motivation is sometime such an obstacle to overcome. I hat to say but look at the meds. I'm not sure of all her issues but I can tell u it took me 18 months b4 they finally got my meds correct . Tere r so many side effect and when you take that with a tbi it's 10 million times worst. Motivation depression anxiety all parts of this disability.

Can I ask is she computer literate? I can tell you it took me a while but my iPod was my best friend, now I'm able to use an iPad...computer to blindly and big. I have special vestibular damage and balance issues. If you would like I would love to try and give you other help let me know.

Start with small tasks maybe 2 things a day let her see she. Accomplished something for a week or so then add another small task..build small. Change is not a friendly thing to us with tbi it's very hard to get used to and can shut us down even faster. Having constant people also make u feel as thou gh u r useless, I started with making coffee everyday in the pot and watering plants....each week we built now I have a daily organization that queues me all day long what to do in my house and how to manage my house to still be a mom to my kids. I have some great web sits if she could work toward that let me know I'm all to happy to share.

God bless and with your support shell come thru just remember it take time lots and lots of time. Be patient and keep supporting. Thats the be thing I don't have family support.

De,

[Geo Gosling]

I had short term memory...ah deficiencies at first. What I did, that I think helped, was write anything and everything down that I had to do. I started with a day-timer and then just needed a small notebook. To be honest, I just got so f!@#$%^ sick and tired of writing s!@# down, that I just started to remember stuff because that was easier. I also developed my own memory aids after I was able to move out on my own. For example: If I had to go to the grocery store to buy cat food, soda pop, and cookies. I would make up and remember the word CASPOPKIE (CAt food, Soda POP, cooKIEs). Of course, I had to remember what CASPOPKIE stood for but I seemed to be able to do that since I came up with it to begin with. That is a pretty simple example, I had longer ones that were actually pretty complex.

[DENISE ALDRICH]

Geo, whAt a great idea. I haven't gotten that far in my two years......I try very hard but I agree I'm tired as s$&@ writing stuff down but when I stray from my strategies I f$&) everything up. That's funny u do that that's what Gary busey does....il have to try. I'm getting your books to read I'm sure I'll relate quite a bit......tbi sucks and what it does to our life. ....denise

[Kathy Kraus]

I too have a sister with initiation/motivation problems.  You might try reading on abulia--it can be associated with brain injury.

[mary lutz]

I have a huge problem with organization, recalling the right word, motivation, and initiation. I had a friend staying with me for awhile and he would make suggestions of what needed done and we did them together. That helped so much. When he left, its like I did not take over though. I am not sure if it can be learned or if I just became depressed living alone.

I can make long lists but loose them or misplace them when I need them, like a list of stuff I need from WalMart-when Im ready to go, the list is nowhere to be found. Since I can only remember the one thing, I just dont go.

[Kathy Kraus]

don't know if you saw my reply to someone elses response a few weeks.  My sister has the same problem and I've read where there is a disorder called "abulia" -- you might return to a neurologist to have this checked out.  Abulia has something to do with lack of initiation.

 

Kathy Kraus

[Michael Buckner]

What got me motivated was people always telling me. "if you want to remember that, write it down."  After about 2 to 3 years of hearing that and realizing that I was having difficulty remembering what happened, I would write it down.  See, I use to have a great memory, having the ability to remember everything without even really trying and then after my accident, I assumed my memory would be the same, it wasn't.  What was nice though, is that by writing it down I was able to talk about what happened earlier in the day, or yesterday, or even last week.  I can now referance my booklet and talk intelligently about the recent past.  I would get your sister a planner and just keep telling her to write what happened down.  It doesn't have to be in great detail, but just something for her to referance to might help her remember what happened or future plans.

 

Mike B

[deborah clonch-elliott]

I've written so much down one time i had notes all over the credenza and then notes stuck all over a wooden kitchen chair.  so many so that I got lost amongst the notes.  i've tried... i lost the notes, I lose the notebook, and i forget I have one.  people simply can't relate.  and motivation?  motivation is something which I would like to experience but do not.      i skim over the material here which aggravates.   I'm new this website.  it is causing a mental void due to unfamiliar territory making me feel more inept then when time is spent with long term distant past familiarities.  Two tbi's in 8 years.  recently in nov. last year.  it's more then I can handle.  so I wait for 'motivation' to surface.  how do you describe brain damage?  Too much stimulation.  Was it the right thing to do, joining here?  fear and anxiety rises within me.

[Lisa Mayock]

Hello Chuck,

During my first year of recovery my executive functioning was very impaired along with most everything else, and still is to some degree, but I'm almost into my 3rd year of recovery since my anoxic brain injury.  It's not that I don't want to do the therapy, it's not that I'm lazy, or unmotivated, but my initiation is missing.  When prompted I do the task.  Sometimes if something comes up between the thought of doing it and say the phone ringing, it will be lost in space.  Post it notes work great and my iPad calendar alarms.  But please it's not unmotivated (that's a negative) that area of the brain needs to find a path around the damage and that takes time.  

Lisa