Speaker Series: Listening With My Eyes - Understanding Non-Verbal Communication Taught by a Horse
Patricia Conoway has created a breakthrough guide to help caregivers connect with their love ones suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Conoway takes us on her journey with her mother Kay, who’s in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, dependent on others for her most basic needs, and no longer able to communication verbally, when Conoway’s horse, Dream, enters Conoway’s life. Dream had been severely abused by a previous owner and where others would have given up, Conoway was determined to heal her. Conoway describes her dual struggles with her mother’s steady decline and persistent issues with care facilities while also going through the slow process of learning her horse’s body language. Eventually Dream teaches Conoway communication by “watching and listening” with her senses, which Conoway then translates to non-verbal “conversations” with her mother. Conoway’s straightforward account in her book (“Listening With My Eyes”) of her own frailties, doubt and eventual success is recommended reading for anyone who struggles to relate to a person who has lost verbal communication.