ASA - American Society on Aging

2007 Awards Programs
Recognizing Excellence in the Field of Aging

Award Winners

2007 MindAlert Awards

The American Society on Aging (ASA), in collaboration with MetLife Foundation, is pleased to announce the winners of the seventh annual MindAlert Awards. This year's awards are presented to three outstanding programs addressing cognitive fitness and cognitive impairment.

Programs Specifically Designed To Enhance Mental Fitness For Cognitively-Impaired Older Adults

Songwriting Works

Judith-Kate Friedman, Executive Director
Songwriting Works, Inc
Port Townsend, Washington

Songwriting Works, advocates for, and provides full access to creative music programs for a diverse spectrum of elders with cognitive impairments. Songwriting Works gives elders with dementia new forums for self expression, experience in the arts, and an opportunity to leave a legacy of story and song. Programs include 1) workshops and events serving elders and 2) training, tools, and consulting for caregivers and others interested in increasing communication and quality of life across the spectrum of age, culture, and ability.

Professional songwriter-facilitators, trained in intergenerational music collaboration, can engage three to thirty elders of diverse cultural and educational backgrounds and physical and cognitive abilities in an inclusive process that combines storytelling, musical improvisation and consensus building with fundamentals of song composition. Each of ten workshops of 40-75 minutes is self-contained, so the benefits of the process are available to participants regardless of whether they have participated in sequential sessions or recall their prior participation. Programs begin with familiar songs leading to crafting a new song.

Through highly interactive exchange, the facilitator solicits ideas for topics, themes, and musical genres. Elders’ input directs the session with remarks recorded on easel pads verbatim; melodies spring from the group and are repeated and refined to match words. Group attention is kept in focus by the rhythmic pulse of a guitar; frequent repetition of gathered words; rhyme and word play; open questions; humor; passion; and sincere, enthusiastic acknowledgement of each participant.

Educational Programs Focused On Enhancing Mental Fitness For The General Population Of Older Adults

Everyday Memory Clinic

Robin Lea West, Professor of Psychology
Institute on Aging at the University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

The Everyday Memory Clinic (EMC) has trained over 400 older adults in using learned memory skills. Success of the program is shown in increased confidence and feelings of control over memory, increased use of memory strategies and improved memory test scores. Gains that participants have made are retained six months or more which previous memory strategy training models have not been able to achieve.

Specifically, the program operates in small-group classes using the Everyday Memory Workbook, where leaders incorporate key elements: use of learned memory skills, extensive practice to master these new skills, encouragement for daily memory work with regular homework and setting of personal goals for practical in-home memory activities which bolsters confidence so that older adults feel in control. The program focuses on learning (not on perfect performance), beginning with easier tasks, and then building to more challenging activities. The model has proved effective in diverse populations including African Americans, Latinos and Caucasians, people with lower income levels and those with greater resources as well as various education levels.

This practical model enhances basis memory skills required for independent living.

Lifelong Learning and Third Age Learning Programs Where Mental Fitness Is Implicit (tie)

Intergenerational School

Catherine C. Whitehouse, Ph.D., Founder, Principal and Chief Educator
Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., Founder, Board of Directors
The Intergenerational School
Cleveland, Ohio

The Intergenerational School (TIS) is breaking new ground in the fields of public education and intergenerational programs as a model of lifelong learning, intergenerational health and purposeful aging. The only known public intergenerational school in the United States, TIS is also the only community school in the State of Ohio to receive a report card rating of “excellent” for three consecutive years.

Built into the structure of the educational experience, older adults and other community members participate daily with TIS students K-7 through a number of intergenerational learning programs. The intergenerational component partners older adults and other volunteers with children to enhance both groups’ knowledge of the learning process and to create opportunities for intergenerational sharing, especially in areas relating to literacy, computers, and math. Other intergenerational programs include reading mentors, natural history museum explorers, gardening, field trips and narrative histories. The work of trained volunteers, while cognitively stimulating for the adults, improves children’s overall academic skills and instills a profound cross-generational caring and respectful relationship.
Each classroom also partners with a long-term care facility for regular visits where the children and residents interact through art, song, literature, and story-telling.

The Intergenerational School bridges gaps between racial, cultural, ethnic, socio-economic and age differences by bringing together a diverse range of participants to be a part of this community.

At TIS “intergenerational” is not meant to only include the young and old. TIS focuses on creating a learning environment for people of all ages to work in harmony with each other and benefit from each other’s personal wisdom. Students build a foundation for lifelong learning with the help of older volunteers who exhibit their love of learning throughout the life span. The school’s volunteers frequently interact with each other as they share in one common goal: to learn and help others learn in this unique educational community.

ASA wishes to acknowledge this year's award review panel: Deanna B Eversoll, Chair, Lincoln, NE · James E Birren, Pacific Palisades, CA · Dean Blevins, Chair-Elect, North Little Rock, AR · Gloria Coles, New York, NY · Moira Fordyce, Laguna Niguel, CA · James Frasier, St. Petersburg FL · Barbara Ginsberg, Immediate Past Chair, Brooklyn, NY · Pamela Huff, Portland, OR · Darby Morhardt, Chicago, IL · Robyn Yale, San Francisco, CA