Embedded Files
Who is this activity for?
This activity is appropriate for older adults in an assisted living facility or for an family member that wants to connect with an older adult in their family.
The Need this activity is addressing
Through the annotated bibliography and interview it was identified that older adults can become socially isolated due to age and have a vast wealth of knowledge that should be shared. This activity involves active listening to an older adult share a scrap book of an important time period in their life while simultaneously the listener uses active listening techniques and supports the creation of music playlist to auditorily represent the older adults experiences throughout their life.
What is this activity?
This activity being used is a less cognitively taxing story telling experience where an older adult will be presented with one of their scrapbooks and share their memories and experiences associated with the photos. As photos and memories are being shared they will then use the assistance of this music therapist, written instructions or an audio recording of instructions to create an associated playlist (on their streaming platform of choice) to musically share their own personal narrative. The result is both an auditory retelling and an audio representation that can be shared with others who participate or with younger generational family members to help others experiences the memories, stories and laughs in a fuller manner.
How is Music Involved?
Music is a key component in the auditory playlist and songs associated with the pictures creating a more complete understanding of the older adults experiences.
How is UDL utilized?
Stories throughout generations are told in a variety of ways and information is conveyed visually through the use of the photos being presented and auditorily through the use of the created music playlist.
Music is used for the UDL principle of “Comprehension” because the music is providing background knowledge to help individuals that look at the photos in the scrap book to get a more complete understanding of the picture and associated memory or story.
How is SEL utilized?
When utilized by family members and the older adults in their family, it could be targeting the second ring of SEL, which is authentic partnerships. This principle mostly discusses school, however in this scenario a child or grandchild could use this activity to better understand the actions of the older adult in their family through a deeper understanding of their experiences, cultures and development displayed in the photo album.
Task Analysis (Steps) of this Designed Activity
1) Before the scrapbook is brought out make sure to have an empty Spotify playlist open. Give it a generic title for now like ______’s photo album playlist. The actual name will be created as a part of a reflection at the end. If you already have Spotify and a new playlist open skip ahead to step 11
2) Click this link https://open.spotify.com
3) Select the Hamburger in the top left corner (Three lines stacked on top of each other)
4) If you do not have an account, select “Sign Up”. If you do skip ahead to step 5.
a. If you select “Sign Up” provide a valid email address
b. Next create a password
c. Lastly create a username
d. After you see the message that indicates completion, refresh the page and repeat step 3.
5) Select Login.
6) Type in your username (or email) and password associated with your account
7) (Only on Mobile) Select the “Bookstack” icon at the bottom of the screen, with the word My Library.
8) Click on the “Plus” symbol (+)
9) Select “Playlist”
10) Name your playlist “______’s photo album playlist” and then select “Create”
11) Click “Add to this Playlist”
12) Select the Search bar
13) Have the older adult select a scrapbook or photo album they would like to share
a. In an assisted care facility, they typically keep a record of their belongings. Some memory care units have scrapbooks with older adults’ pictures in them.
14) Have the older adult share memories about the photos in the photo album by asking about them.
15) Use active listening skills and engage with the older adult by saying things like “Tell me about this photo?”, “What was going on in your life around this time?” and “What’s happening here?”
16) After every couple photos (2-3) shared, ask “Are there any songs associated with this photo?” or “What do you hear when you look at this photo?”
a. If the older adult does share music associated with the photos without asking, add the songs to the Spotify playlist as they mention them using the steps below.
17) For every song mentioned by the older adult, add it to the Spotify playlist by typing in the name of the song in the “Search” bar on Spotify (as seen above).
18) On the right side of the song select “add”
19) Ask the older adult questions that show engagement and promote connectedness like:
"What would you like someone looking at this photo, or hearing this song to know about you?"
"What would you like others to ask about you when looking at this photo or hearing this song?"
"How do the song and the photo relate to each other?"
"What was memorable about this experience?"
"What would you like your family and friends to know about this song?"
"Who were the people in this photo? What would you want to share with them?"
20) Continue this process until the older adult decides that they no longer want to share or finish the photo album.
21) Be sure to give access to the playlist to the older adult using email or text. If those are not possibilities, ask if someone in the facility or home has email or text and a speaker. When they would like to look at the photos in the future, to help them create full memories they can listen to the music from this created playlist as they flip through photos.
a. If email or text are not options, the individual facilitating could burn a CD from the Spotify playlist. All they would need is one apple device, a CD and a computer equipped with a CD burner.
b. 2nd Alternative, there are online web sources that you can send music to and they will create a custom CD for $16 (https://intheclouds.io/products/custom-cds) (Not Sponsored)
22) Reflect on the visual and auditory experiences as necessary.
23) Enjoy!
General Materials
A streaming platform of choice (Apple Music, Spotify, amazon music)
One of the following:
A photo album of the older adult
A scrap book of the older adult
An assortment of photos of the older adult.
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