Ireland’s leading therapeutic activity for people with dementia
Training is a requirement for anyone delivering the Sonas Programme, to ensure that the quality of delivery is kept to a high standard. Those qualified to deliver Sonas sessions are known as Sonas Programme Licenced Practitioners (SPLP)
Background:
The Sonas Programme was created in 1990 by Sr. Mary Threadgold after her time working as a Speech and Language Therapist assisting younger people with significant cognitive and communication impairments.
Since then, the Sonas Programme has developed into an agile and evolving programme with a strong emphasis on communication, in order to ensure its continual effectiveness and relevancy to the improving standards for dementia care provision.
Sr. Mary’s vision for Sonas apc
The purpose of the Sonas Programme is to tap into the ability to interact and communicate that is not typically being used by older people living with dementia. It does this by involving the senses e.g. hearing (music, singalongs) touch (relaxing shoulder massage) as well as taste, smell and sight. The sessions, through their trained facilitators aim to stimulate memories, helped by poems, proverbs and songs; laughter results e.g. in gentle exercises, contributing ‘party pieces’ while quality interaction is modelled by the trained practitioners who give participants a feeling of being loved and respected. Routine, with flexibility, is built into the sessions through structure and repetition. Whether in its individual or group sessions, it is a person-centered approach.
Do you have a family member or a relative in a nursing home and would like if they had the opportunity to participate in Sonas sessions?
The Sonas Programme involves stimulation of all five senses, gentle exercise, relaxing music, singalongs and memory-focused exercises. Benefits for participants include improved mood, enhanced well being and communication.
Sonas sessions are led by Sonas Programme Licensed Practitioners (SPLP) with groups or on a one to one basis. The basic structure of each of the group and individual sessions is pre-recorded on a CD and USB stick, freeing the Sonas Programme Licensed Practitioner (SPLP) to focus on each participant.
Sonas Sessions are most often carried out in nursing homes and day centres. The sessions are designed to be enjoyed by residents who have significant communication difficulties and who are often unable to participate in general group activities.
“The Sonas Group Sessions have helped me to build better working relationships with clients who find it hard to communicate and form relationships” – Emma Moorhead, Care Assistant, Bunclody Day Centre.
“It’s great to see the responses that the Sonas Group Session brings out – the fun and the laughter. It helps bring people together” – Margaret Clarke, Patient Assistant, St John’s Community Hospital, Enniscorthy.
The essential features and benefits of Sonas Group and Individual Sessions are:
- Stimulation of all five senses
- Focus on communication, quality engagement and relaxation
- Gentle chair-based exercises to maintain muscle tone
- Use of structure and repetition
- Focus on retained skills and abilities rather than deficits or disabilities
- Creation of a gentle, failure-free environment
- Usage of evidence-based tools to evaluate the programme and measure impact over time
- The practitioner has the opportunity to customise the programme to each individual, bringing in different objects to trigger memories and stimulate conversation and laughter
- SPLPs are joined a by network of peers, all of whom are implementing the Sonas Programme with access to a dedicated online forum and resource website where they can share ideas and ask questions
- Research has shown that Sonas sessions are especially beneficial for people with moderate to severe dementia.