Lifestyles: Home, Garden & Retirement Communities

How the SAIDO Learning Method is Helping Memory Care Residents

October 31, 2023

SAIDO Learning is a method of working with memory care residents to challenge memory loss.

SAIDO engages residents in repeated specific exercises, including arithmetic, writing, and reading comprehension. Tailored to each resident’s level and with a focus on one-on-one learning, the exercises are precise, yet simple. Learners participate in five 30-minute sessions a week. The exercises are repeated consistently each day, which can help to interrupt the symptoms of cognitive decline.

Heron’s Key, a life plan community in Gig Harbor, is one of the first communities on the west coast using this unique training to help residents with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Residents in Penrose Harbor, the onsite memory care and skilled nursing center at Heron’s Key, have shown significant signs of improvement, thanks, say staff, to SAIDO Learning.

SAIDO Learning was developed in the early 2000’s in Japan but has made its way to the United States. Heron’s Key is one of eight communities in Washington state that has implemented the practice in their skilled nursing facility.

During the sessions, resident “learners” complete math and reading worksheets while being timed on their progression. When the lessons become too easy for the learner, they are bumped up to a slightly more difficult “just right” level. The goal of SAIDO is not to teach the resident new information, but to engage them in mental stimulation while providing positive encouragement and meaningful interactions with other residents and staff.

“The residents who participate in SAIDO have improved in just a short amount of time,” says Sandi Semler, Heron’s Key social services coordinator and SAIDO instructor. “The program helps the residents have increased energy, memory improvement, a larger social capacity, and more confidence. It’s fun to see them enjoy the program and benefit from it.”

Semler recalled an interaction a resident learner had with his learning supporter, when she (the supporter) couldn’t remember something at the SAIDO table. The resident casually told her, “You should do SAIDO. It’ll help with that.” The same learner’s wife shared that he now remembers staff’s names, something he hadn’t been able to do before starting SAIDO.

Heron’s Key received a grant to ensure staff members have SAIDO training and will continue to use these funds with additional training throughout the year. By training additional staff members, more residents can receive this proven care technique.