09/02/2026
Looking Beyond “Do You Remember?” ❤️
In Restorative Engagement, we are always looking for practical ways to support the function that remains — including short-term memory and the ability to retrieve recent information.
For someone living with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, verbal cues do not always work. Being told about something that happened earlier may not be enough to bring that recent memory forward.
So, when verbal cues aren’t enough, we change the cue.
This is where cue-dependent retrieval can become one part of an individualized Restorative Engagement plan.
The photograph below is a great example of what that can look like in practice.
Today, B and I are watching an opera together as part of B’s individualized engagement plan. But the opera itself is only one part of the session.
Within this one engagement, we are naturally incorporating several restorative approaches:
❤️ Music engagement — using familiar music and the emotional response it can evoke.
❤️ Reminiscence — allowing the music, costumes, setting and story to open opportunities for memories and conversation from earlier periods of life.
❤️ Cognitive stimulation — following the story, noticing characters, responding to what is happening and sharing thoughts and observations.
❤️ Sensory engagement — combining music, voices, movement, colour and visual imagery.
❤️ Social engagement — sharing the activity together, conversing, laughing, commenting and simply enjoying one another’s company.
❤️ Emotional engagement and regulation — using an enjoyable, familiar activity to support comfort, connection and a sense of well-being.
❤️ Choice and autonomy — following B’s interests, responses and preferences rather than expecting participation in a predetermined activity.
❤️ Cue-dependent retrieval — creating a visual cue that can potentially help B access information from this engagement later.
During our time together, I took this photograph.
The photo will be printed, the date and a short note about today’s engagement will be written on the back, and the photograph will stay with B.
Later, we can return to it.
That may be during a telephone call later in the day, during our next in-person engagement, or naturally with family or care staff.
Rather than relying solely on a verbal reminder or asking, “Do you remember watching the opera?”, we can refer B to the photograph and allow the visual information to provide another route into that recent memory.
B may recall watching the opera. A particular detail may come forward. The music itself may become a cue. The photograph may prompt recognition or familiarity. Or it may not result in retrieval at all.
We aren't testing memory. We're supporting memory function.
We follow what the individual gives us and build from there.
And because the photograph stays with B, the opportunity for recognition, conversation and retrieval can continue after today’s engagement has ended.
That is an important part of individualized Restorative Engagement: not simply creating meaningful engagement in the present, but intentionally layering music, reminiscence, cognition, sensory stimulation, social connection and memory supports together — and looking for ways to use that engagement to support function later.
