I don't think mom can tell time anymore. Anyone else with experience with this?

I bought my mother (dementia) one of those digital calendar clocks that displays the day, time of day, date and exact time, thinking it would help her. Instead she just argued that it was wrong. If she thought it was Saturday afternoon, it was Saturday afternoon, even if it was the middle of the night Tuesday.

I think the concept of time and its passage eludes people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

My mother still asks to wear her watch. It hasn’t had a battery in over a year. She also wants her hyper-local newspaper subscription renewed, even though she can no longer read. They’re routine items and may represent attempts to reassure themselves that they’re staying in the loop.

My Mom can tell time, however, she cannot interpret what the time means.

For instance, she knows that it is 10:15 am, however, to her it might as well be 11:15, 2:30 pm or any other time that is not close to breakfast, lunch, dinner, or bathtime.

Routine is important, however, the relationship of the tasks to one another is how my Mom tells time. For instance, she knows that after dinner, she uses the toilet, then waits in the hallway in her wheelchair for me. When I am done, I return her back to the hallway, where she waits for her bath. Then after bath, she goes to bed.

She doesn't look at it as, 5:15 pm, I am finished with dinner, 5:30 I go to the toilet, 5:45 I'm in the hallway, 6:30 I'm back in the hallway waiting for my bath, etc.

It is comforting to have a watch. It is comforting to have a clock in the room. However, the precise time is not important. The fact that time moves, is important. The clock in my Mom's room is usually 5-10 minutes behind the real time. One time, it was completely stopped and she did notice, but didn't really care.

My FIL is currently still considered "mild" cognitive impairment, "early" stage dementia. And he has macular degeneration in both eyes. So we got him this digital clock that what we call "big enough to see from space". I want to say the display numbers are about 6 inches tall. And it sits probably about 5 feet away from his bed in the nursing home, since we couldn't sit it on his bedside table (too much other stuff on it) so we sat in on a nearby shelf.

He has what we call time dilation. Meaning he can look at the clock and tell the time - let's say 5:52 and he will note that time in his head when he pushes the call button. And of course the nurses/CNAs don't come immediately. And his thing is to tell us it has been 2 hours or 4 hours since he pushed the button for help and no one is coming. Now the nearest we can figure - he does one of two things.
1. He either never actually pushes the button - which we know is possible because he had a recent hospital stay and the nurse quite literally would hear him yelling for them - and find him with the call button in his hand...but he never pushed it.
OR
2. He zeroes in on ONE of the numbers and transposes that in his head and that becomes the time he started. So let's say he started at that 5:52 and he gets that 2 stuck in his head and he looks at the clock again and it's 6:04 - he THINKS he's been waiting for help...NOT since 5:52...but since 2pm. So instead of 12 minutes he thinks he's been waiting for 4 hours.

So sometimes while they may actually be able to tell what the numbers themselves mean in order, they don't really mean anything in actual context - if that makes sense?

Being asked to draw a clock face and then put the numbers on it and then the hands at a time that the doctor tells you is a basic cognitive exam.

My Mom is 94 with just very mild cognitive impairment. She functions pretty well in her home (next to mine so she is semi-independent) but she has lost her ability to sense time or be aware of it. I have to go get her in advance for appointments because, even though she has many clocks in her home, she just loses herself in time and space now and often now cannot be ready on time on her own. She used to be a very punctual person.

At last year's cognitive exam she could draw the clock face and put the numbers on it but couldn't put the hands at 10:50. If your Mom is in stage 5/6 and just now not being able to read time, she's doing pretty good IMO.

My MIL is 89 in LTC also with mild/mod dementia. Two years ago I brought her a birthday card to sign. She couldn't. I asked her to just draw and X, she couldn't. I told her to watch me draw the X and then do it, but she still couldn't. She reads perfectly well, still. It's so weird.

Yes, inability to tell time is normal and as was said drawing a clock is part of the test for dementia.

So are questions about time mixed with math like:

”Your appointment is at 8am. It is 7:45am now. It takes about 30 minutes to drive there. Will you make it on time?”

or even more broadly

”It is summer now. Next month the season will change. What season will it be then?”

People with early stages of dementia can’t figure this out.

Seniors with dementia often ask what time it is even when they are wearing a watch or carrying a cell phone.

So, yes, sounds totally typical.

It is part of the decline that things that she once knew will be lost.
If possible to use one Alexa would be able to tell her what time it is. All she would have to do is ask what time is it.
Another option might be to have a large clock and next to it have written on a white board what time she has to do something.
If you get a large analog clock draw a picture of the clock and the placement of the hands for breakfast, do the same for lunch and dinner.
If you get a digital write the numbers on the white board.

My mom had a completely unused laptop computer that someone got her. She never once learned how to log in and just look at Facebook, much less, look up information or text someone.

She refused to ask for help, tho occasionally someone would step up and then we'd have this whole 'what's the password' business going on.

That laptop, the case it came in and the users manual sat on a table in the kitchen for 10 years. Drove me crazy b/c she didn't HAVE extra space anywhere for this or anything else.

One of the grands could have put that laptop to use, but sadly, by the time she passed, it was totally out of date.

Still--she balanced her checkbook the week before she died, to the penny, as always.

My Mom lost the ability to tell time just about the time your Mom did. My DD had an alarm clock with 2 in numbers and green lighted and Mom used that. She had trouble with my red lighted one. Mom lost the ability to add and subtract early on.

My mom lost the ability to tell time earlier in the process than yours. She still wanted to wear a watch (she had three), but whichever one was on her wrist had a problem. We went through 2-3 more watches that I bought for her but none were working to suit her. Finally, instead of continuing to buy watches for her, I started rotating the ones we already had.

At about the same time she lost the ability to tell time, she also lost the ability to read or operate a remote control, and trying to operate a computer or a tablet was completely out of the question. I nearly made myself crazy trying to find something, anything she could manage that could keep her somewhat in touch with the world, but I finally just had to admit that it is what it is and those skills are gone.

My DH has Parkinson’s and he often cannot tell if it is morning or night. He gets up at 2 or 3 in the morning and gets dressed thinking it is afternoon. If he has an appointment, he will ask me repeatedly if it is time to go. He will go get his shoes and jacket at 8:00am for a 2:30pm appt. He often puts on my shoes or sweaters instead of his and doesn’t understand why that’s a problem. I tell him he looks better in my clothes and it makes me jealous. He laughs and takes off my things. He sometimes stares at the clock then asks me what time it is, saying he can’t see the clock. He messes up the remote, cannot understand his laptop, and has ruined his iPhone by just pushing buttons randomly and deleting files or apps. I just take the phone and clean up the mess and give it back. It’s like a game.
Now he refuses to admit he has Parkinson’s at all. He says I’m just trying to put him away.
So I hired a care giver four hours/two days a week to give me a break. He is having good days lately. Only fell twice this week.
Every day is something new to deal with.
Time really doesn’t matter to them, so just go with it. As long as you keep up with important times that’s all that is necessary. Take care of you first.