To help me on my way, I talked to two teachers from my school, Pomperaug High School. These two teachers were Michelle Szmajlo, my AP Psychology teacher, and Michael Syrotiak, who's grandmother is advancing through the stages of dementia. Mrs.Szmajlo's knowledge of how the brain functions and how dementia affects the brain on a scientific level, combined with some of Mr.Syrotiak's personal experiences with his grandmother, were incredibly valuable to me as I moved my project into the prototype development phase. Overall, I'd say my largest takeaway from this experience was that for this product to be effective, it has to work for the user's lifestyle. Some people lived more active before
dementia, and some lived more sedentary. If a person was more active, then the product needs to be used in a way that stimulates them and keeps them active as they use it. Otherwise, there comes a chance that it won't have much of an effect. While this was the most important lesson, there was much more that I learned from my talk with them, and you can see it all by watching the video attached to this page, or reading my brief question document I filled out afterwards.