Ideas
to Help People Compose E-mails
When They Have Memory Problems
1. Write down the computer procedures
in a
simple step by step format and post the
cue card near the computer.
2. Provide lots of practice with email steps.
3. Identify any “problem
keys” and mark them
with a colored sticker (e. g., if a person has
difficulty remembering how to delete, mark the
backspace key with a red “DELETE” sticker.
4. Plan an email. Help the person
generate a
few ideas for an email message and then put
the idea prompts on a card where they can see it
when they compose their message.
5. If a person is replying to an
email, make a
hard copy printout available for easy reference.
6. Write the email together. Have
the person
dictate the message to you.
7. Boot up the computer and get
to the email page
so all the person must do is “type” their message.
8. Timing can be everything. Suggest
writing an
email when the person is feeling alert and
appears to want to do an activity.
9. Make sure the environment is
quiet and
conducive to concentrating (i.e., television
and radios are off; there are no visitors etc.)
10. Sometimes mailboxes become
full of “junk
mail”. It might be beneficial to go through the in
box and clean out unwanted emails.
11. Safety first. If you think
your family member is at
risk for giving personal information on the Web (e.g.,
chat rooms where they could be a target for money
fraud or a sexual predator), then make sure you
supervise their electronic communication.
What to Do when you are writing an e-mail:
1. Simplify your sentences to reduce
the load
on memory.
2. Use simple subject-verb-object
sentences.