Mom got a letter, and she read it to herself.
Read it to us! we said. Can you read it?
She laughed, Of course I can! I want to know if you can read it!
We said, But we want you to read it to us. Read it aloud!
And so she did, with a loud clear proud voice she read the whole letter, hesitating over words she could not decipher. Yet she could remember the pronunciation of names that were not English, and said them correctly.
When she finished, I asked her what the letter said. And she told me what she understood, passage by passage, reading again from the letter to remind herself what it was about.
I would give her 50% for reading comprehension.
- She knew what a sentence meant, even when she could not remember the event it referred to
- She knew most of the people in the letter
- She was happy to read the letter, recognising it was written with love
It doesn’t matter the parts she did not seem to understand, which were the parts referring to the passage of time, someone’s accomplishment, or illness, or future plans. She seemed not to recognise the significance. Or she might have understood after all, and I didn’t see it.
Dementia, Caregiving and Life in General 
It’s good, that your mom can still maintain her reading abilities, and, she will deteriorate to the point that she can no longer make out the words, on a sheet of paper, and she will no longer recognize her own name written, like my materna grandmother had become now, so, take advantage of the time, to interact with her, while she can still remember you.
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Yes, we enjoy the times we have now.
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Dad stopped reading books quite early on. He explained once he couldn’t remember what he’d read and kept reading the same paragraph. But, much later on when he couldn’t have read a newspaper article he would read aloud road signs as I drove by them. It could become quite irritating!
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It seems common to keep reading ability whilst losing comprehension. Mom knows she doesn’t understand newspapers now, but we still ask her to read them.
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How lovely. It made my cry reading this, but in a good way. I read others’ blogs silently most of the time lately but just wanted you to know how much I appreciate yours.
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Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I’ve learned so much from your writings about enjoying the moments.
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Outstanding that your mom still has this much comprehension and even made the attempt to read. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
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Thank you for your comment. Have missed you!
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What a coincidence: we had a letter issue here yesterday. It was a birthday card from one of Maureen’s son which she chose to open after 9 months. She read it late at night over an over again with embellishments. Then this morning she said where is that letter? The mind boggles!!!
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That’s incredible! Better late than never.
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