Reaching Through Silence with the Power of Touch

A true story about how safe sensory engagement reawakens connection in dementia care through touch, color, and calm.

Kensington Redondo Beach is one of those rare communities that feels more like a country club than a care home. It’s bright, beautifully maintained, and genuinely warm. The air smells clean, sunlight filters softly through the windows, and there’s a quiet rhythm to the halls — the kind that makes you exhale as soon as you enter. Residents chat gently with caregivers, hair freshly set from the on-site beauty shop or hands still warm from physical therapy. It’s peaceful, purposeful, and beautifully human.  Every detail is designed to comfort. There’s a beauty salon, a physical-therapy studio, cozy corners, and spotless hallways. Most importantly, the resident-to-caregiver ratio is high, creating an atmosphere where everyone feels seen.

When I visited Kensington Redondo the first time, I bring six open Geri-Gadgets® buckets — Flowers, Shapes, and Fidget Gidget® and set them up around the table on the memory care floor known as Haven. About ten residents are there, each at a different stage of cognitive decline, surrounded by attentive caregivers who know their routines and personalities. Some residents are drawn immediately to color and texture, their eyes lighting up as they feel the soft, medical-grade silicone in their hands. Others sit quietly, watching. A few begin building shapes, linking pieces together in creative patterns. One woman puts a piece gently up to her mouth and smiles, “purple is my favorite color” comforted by the sensation.

In the middle of that gentle hum sat one man in a wheelchair, his head bowed, withdrawn from the group. He was further along in his decline—silent, motionless, distant. His caregivers said he rarely engaged, but I didn’t want to give up on him.

I approached him slowly, carefully matching the calm rhythm of the room. Nothing rushed. Nothing overstimulating. I picked up a Tugger, one of our flexible tools made of colorful tubing and elastic and crouched beside him.

“Look at the colors,” I said softly as I placed them in his fingers with my hands around his hands. “You can pull on them or push them in. Feel how they move.”

For a moment, nothing happens. Then, after a few long seconds, his fingers tighten. He begins to pull — slow, uncertain at first, then with more intention. I gently take my hands away, letting him take over. He continues to tug, stretch, and twist the piece in his lap.

Robert May, the Executive Director, notices from across the room. His eyes widen. “He’s exercising his hands and arms,” he says, astonished. And then something even more remarkable happens: the gentleman lifts his head. His eyes focus. A few minutes later, he begins to speak, softly at first, then more clearly, stringing words together.

This is a man who rarely talked. And now, through something as simple as tactile engagement — touch, texture, movement, his body and brain are awakening to connection again.

That moment filled my heart. It’s why I created Geri-Gadgets® in the first place.

The Science of Touch

Touch is the first sense we develop and the last one to fade. It plays a vital role in emotional regulation, memory, and social connection. In dementia care, studies have shown that sensory stimulation can reduce agitation, improve mood, and even increase communication. When we stimulate the hands, one of the most nerve-dense parts of the body, we activate brain regions linked to attention, calm, and engagement.

Unlike screens or sound-based therapies, tactile tools engage both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously. They encourage focus, movement, and self-expression without words, something that becomes increasingly important as verbal communication declines.

Silicone, in particular, has proven to be a powerful medium. It’s soft, flexible, and safe, the closest material to human skin. It can be washed, shared, even used in the bath or shower. That means a single Geri-Gadgets® kit can travel from the activity room to occupational therapy to personal care, helping soothe agitation, strengthen grip, and restore dignity.

A Low-Tech, High-Impact Innovation

In a world obsessed with digital solutions, Geri-Gadgets® proves that sometimes the most profound innovations are the simplest. They don’t require Wi-Fi, apps, complex training, or even language to understand. They simply invite touch, and in doing so, they awaken something essential in all of us: the need to feel connected.

At Kensington that day, the entire room shifted. Once one person began engaging, others followed. A few residents began building together, creating small structures or arranging shapes by color. Caregivers smiled, joining in. Conversations started. Laughter trickled in from the hallway. The energy changed, not from technology, but from presence.

That’s the beauty of Geri-Gadgets® SafeTouch™ kits.  It makes engagement effortless. It doesn’t replace caregivers; it supports them. It doesn’t try to “fix” decline; it meets people where they are, one touch at a time.

The Power of Multi-User Connection

One of the most exciting aspects of Geri-Gadgets® is how naturally it fosters connection between people. And it’s not just between residents and staff, it’s also between generations. Family members visiting loved ones often don’t know what to say or do. Having something to hold, stretch, or build together breaks that tension. It transforms awkward silence into shared experience.

That’s what I saw that day, caregivers and residents playing together, discovering new uses for each tool, laughing at the unexpected. One caregiver even joked, “I think I need one of these for myself.”

Why Simplicity Matters

There’s something profoundly human about solutions that don’t overcomplicate care. When touch, color, and texture can achieve what words and medicine sometimes can’t, it reminds us that healing doesn’t always come from innovation, sometimes it comes from intention.

As I packed up that day, Robert May came over, still amazed. “I can’t believe he started talking,” he said, shaking his head with a smile. I could. I’ve seen it before, not because of me, but because of what happens when we offer the right kind of sensory connection.

Touch doesn’t just calm. It reawakens. It reminds people they’re still here — still capable of feeling, engaging, creating.

And for caregivers, that’s everything.

— Angela Fairhurst

Founder & CEO, Geri-Gadgets®

About Geri-Gadgets®

Created by caregiver and product developer Angela Fairhurst, Geri-Gadgets® are patented SafeTouch™ silicone sensory kits — dishwasher, bath, shower, and mouth safe — designed to bring calm, comfort, and multi-user connection to cognitive care.

Explore the full line at geri-gadgets.com

#Caregiver Stories #Sensory Engagement #Cognitive Care #Multi-User Connection.