Teaching Older Adults

Question 1

What areas might affect older adults learning?

Answer 1

Vision
Hearing
Speed of processing
Working memory and attention

Question 2

What happens to older adults vision?

Answer 2

Decreased visual acuity, colour vision, night vision, visual contrast sensitivity

Question 3

What considerations should be made for vision?

Answer 3

Good lighting
Bright contrasting colours
Simple font, >12point
Ensure accurate vision aids such as glasses or contacts are worn

Question 4

What happens to hearing in older adults?

Answer 4

Decreased auditory acuity

Difficulty hearing where sound comes from and ignoring background noise

Question 5

What considerations should be made for hearing?

Answer 5

Quiet environment
Ensure hard of hearing can see your face for additional cues
Speak clearly at moderate volume and pace, don’t let voice trail off
Repeat difficult or important points
Ask if people understood
Ensure hearing aids are worn

Question 6

How does speed of processing affect teaching older adults?

Answer 6

Slows with age
Teach topics in small discrete sections to allow for proper processing of info
Teach at time of day when most awake to ensure no further impairments

Question 7

What changes in working memory and attention occur with age?

Answer 7

Reduced working memory capacity
Decline in attention capacity
Reduced ability switch and divide attention

Question 8

What considerations should be made for memory and attention?

Answer 8

Avoid teaching more than one thing at a time - can focus without having to switch or divide attention
Minimise distractions - OA less capable of ignoring distractions and selectively attending
Go through processes slowly, step by step to allow for consolidation of each step into memory