Acceptance

"Our entire life consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are."  Jean Anouilh

True to his word, Dwane has accepted the neuropsychologist's conclusions of the evaluation and the recommendation for assisted living. His acceptance is such a relief for me.  If you, as caregiver, are providing care for someone who is unable to see their own limitations, having a neuropsychological evaluation done may be greatly effective.  A couple suggestions:  pick someone with good skills and have the person with dementia agree - along with yourself - to go along with the recommendations.  The neuropsychologist I suggested was not only the best in the region, he was also someone we both know.  It is a risk to agree to go along with the recommendations, but it seems to me to be the only fair way to do it.  What the neuropsychologist told Dwane were things I have said over and over, but Dwane wasable to hear them from the objective professional. 

One of the hardest things about caregiving someone with dementia is the resistance of the person to have any support and structure.  Having a neuropsychological evaluation done to determine current functioning, strengths and limitations is a great way to know if the support you are providing is appropriate, and it can help the person with dementia accept the need for support and safety.