My Tuesday guest today is not only a great friend but also a great writer. I believe Anita has come up with something quite unique to help adults with learning disabilities.
Anita’s come along today to talk about it.
The Memory Sessions series for Adults with Cognitive Disorders.
Anita Hunt MA
For about twenty years I have worked in the care sector. In that time, I have worked with just about every form of physical and mental disability there is. They have all been challenging, they have all been rewarding and they have all taken a little piece of my heart.
For the last eleven of those years I have been pretty firmly ensconced within the sphere called ‘adults with learning disabilities’ and even from the outset I was shocked by how little resources were available for this sector of our society.
How did I find this out?
Because one day, I went looking for something that was appropriate for their needs that we could use for reminiscence and memory recall sessions.
Guess what?
I found nothing. Nil. Nada. Absolutely zilch of anything that was on the quiz front that wasn’t either aimed at children or at those with the brains of Mensa graduates. Ok, I may be exaggerating a little on that last bit, but not by much. There certainly wasn’t anything in the four line stanza ‘what am I?’ poems that I was looking for, or a suitable quiz that would back up the poems and give the participants an ‘easy win’ that would enable them to feel successful and feel they’d achieved something. Empowerment and self-confidence are all any of us wish for, why should it be any different for those that need just a little bit of help to get there?
So, what did I do?
I stopped being lazy. I am a published poet after all, and I started to write my own. The participants in our group loved them and the poems and quizzes were often asked for.
Each book has a selection of memory ‘what am I?’ poems such as this from the On the Farm book:
I’m big to see and my boyfriend is scary,
He uses his horns when he sees red.
I eat hay and grass and go to the Dairy,
To give you the butter to spread on your bread.
A. Cow
Following this is a thirty-question quiz with a wide-ranging selection of questions that range in difficulty – From ‘What is a group of geese called?’ To ‘What noise do cows make?’ (the noises always bring fun to the session!)
We then have true or false questions such as: ‘Baby chickens are called puppies’ – true or false?
Next is a set of discussion points about the theme and this is followed by song lyrics and relevant song titles that can be found on social media sites for everyone to sing along. Music is brilliant for raising any mood and for bringing cohesion into a group.
Finally, there are word search puzzles and either dot to dot or colouring pictures, depending on the book. The word searches and pictures can be photocopied for use within your own setting only.
There are currently three titles available on Amazon:
The fourth book – ‘About the sea’ – is currently being written and will be available soon.
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Anita’s books certainly look inviting as the colouring draws the eye straight to them. What do you think? Do you know anyone that may benefit from these great books?
If you’d like to purchase any of the above books click on the links to go directly to Amazon.
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Let’s find out a bit about Anita.
Anita Hunt lives in the middle of beautiful Cornwall and has somehow managed to acquire an MA in Creative Writing whilst working full time with adults with learning disabilities and running around after her three adult sons. She has two dogs who are appropriately nicknamed ‘fluffy butt’ (the elderly westie) and Psychopooch (the black lab x cocker spaniel). As well as writing the Memory Sessions, she is a published poet, published theatre reviewer and is writing her first novel – ‘Behind the Curtain’. She relaxes by playing with her camera or a ball of wool and by singing with the Rock Choir. When asked how she fits everything in, she shrugs her shoulders, gives you that ‘I don’t know look‘ and is heard to mutter – ‘sleep is for wimps…’
To find out more about Anita and her writing, why not pop along to her blog, Pixie Dreams, and check out further musings and random discussion points.
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Thank you for coming along today, Anita, and sharing your book contents. If you have any questions for Anita, please leave a question here or contact Anita via one of her links below.
You can find Anita on
Patricia M Osborne 