Montana State University Extension is offering an Alzheimer’s disease awareness program for children that provides a storybook and a reading guide for parents or guardians, teens, aunts, uncles or grandparents who want to help young children understand the disease.

According to Jennifer Munter, grant manager for the MSU Extension Rural Prescription Opioid Misuse Education and Awareness program, the guides contain questions to encourage conversations about the storybook and activities for children. They also offer information on the common emotions children may feel regarding Alzheimer’s.

“The goal of these guides is to help the reader fully engage themselves with the child while at the same time following with the concepts of the book,” Munter said. “By doing so, the reader and the child may gain a better understanding of the feelings children encounter and the perceptions they may have about the behaviors a person with Alzheimer’s disease may show. When children can gain knowledge about the disease and ask questions, they may have an easier time adapting to the changes they see and experience.”

Munter and Marsha Goetting, MSU Extension family economics specialist, collaborated on this project. Both of them have had experiences with dementia-related diseases taking away members of their families. Goetting lost a parent to Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, and Munter’s father-in-law lived with Parkinson’s disease.

Munter is a recent graduate in community health from MSU’s College of Education, Health and Human Development. She volunteered to develop the reading guides during her senior year at MSU. Prior to returning to college, she had a 15-year career as an early childhood educator. 

“Jennifer had over a decade of experience working with children and their families, so her ideas for questions and activities to enhance the storybook’s lessons were invaluable,” Goetting said. 

Individuals who know someone with Alzheimer’s and have a young child who would benefit from gaining an understanding of unusual behaviors their loved one may have can receive one free storybook. An order form can be found at https://alzheimers.msuextension.org/parentmaterials. 

A grant from the Montana Geriatric Education Center at the University of Montana provided funding to purchase the storybooks. Additional support came from the Alzheimer’s Association Montana Chapter and the Montana Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia Work Group.