Scrabble and dementia: a family's quiet loss.

An essay describes how Scrabble became a central ritual as the author's mother lived with worsening Alzheimer's, and how the game's steady decline mirrored losses in her memory and language.

There is a single wooden Scrabble tile the writer keeps as a reminder of time with her mother. Scrabble became a regular shared activity and a way to keep conversation when the mother was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Over time the mother's play changed as she lost strategic skill, the ability to keep score and much of her conversational vocabulary. The author notes that researchers and a neurologist have observed similar declines in Scrabble ability among people with dementia. Key points: - The writer keeps a Scrabble tile as a personal memento tied to visits with her mother. - Scrabble served as a sustained shared activity and a conduit for conversation during the early stages of illness. - As Alzheimer's progressed, the mother's ability to play strategically, keep score and find words diminished. - The author now sometimes plays for both of them and the game's routine has become largely ritual. - A 2019 account by neurologist A.J. Larner described similar changes in his mother's Scrabble play, indicating this pattern has been observed in clinical discussion. Summary: The piece shows how a familiar game tracked the mother's cognitive decline and became a way for the pair to spend time together. Undetermined at this time.