Recommendations on an alarm clock that an elder family member would be able to control.

The Dementia Clock from RecallCue can be controlled remotely. Lots of other features too besides what you mentioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pqfffCAtHU

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8pysKSvzei/

He unplugged the clock, but is he still complaining about needing an alarm clock ??

Or has he given up ?
I hope you didn’t bring up the subject at all.

If he forgot about it don’t bring it up . And don’t move the clock . If he’s quiet about it , leave it there .,

If he’s not complaining about a clock anymore it’s HIS money well spent and a win !!!

My mother drove me crazy about her microwave from home and TV dinners . I cut the cord and brought the microwave in , knowing she would never use it .

Since I cut the cord it could not be used .
She had TV dinners in her little dorm fridge/freezer as well that she never took out . But I would not dare remove these things from the room . She would have noticed .

It just made her feel better having these things “ in case she didn’t like the meals”
in AL .

well, I took iin the second alarm clock last week. I plugged it in last week. This week I saw that he has unplugged it, and not using it - its basically a paperweight now. sigh

Lots of people recommending an Echo or other Alexa type device. This works well BUT my mom-in-law keeps fiddling with it and changing the settings. She even unplugs it from the power. She likes it but it frustrates her. I would choose something simpler.

strugglinson: https://www.alzstore.com/Default.asp?utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=Alzheimer's.

Amazon Echo Dot with Alexa. Very affordable. He can do everything with his voice such as: set an alarm for eleven am every day; set a timer for two hours; what's the outside temperature, etc., etc. He can even ask her to play whatever is his favorite music.

I did find a super nice one on the ALZ website, it shows day, time, etc , you can configure it in different ways and control it remotely by app. You can send little electronic post-it type notes on the screen too, remotely from home as reminders. But, its over $200, and my dad may well reject it, so dont want to buy that yet with a high risk of wasting money. We will see

I use Alexa for daily alarm.

Knowing strugglinson’s Dad is OCD , he will not stop badgering about the alarm clock yet . Hopefully he can find one that his Dad doesn’t need to do a thing, it is set up to go on and off automatically .

Realizing this may not be a solution as this man tends to find an issue with everything , it may be worth a try anyway . Can’t make it any worse. This man takes the cake for sure . Few of the usual tactics work with this man . He’s Teflon against Teepa . He needs to realize on his own he can’t do these things. It may take a new clock to prove it to him . But I would only try one and then it’s done if this doesn’t work . Then Dad gets told this is the best there is .

I agree with, Fawnby, don't bother if it something that isn't absolutely necessary. My parents stopped using an alarm clock when they got into advanced age. Turned out they would still "awake with the chickens" as my Dad would say :)


Since your Dad is living in Assisted Living, the Staff will make sure he is awake for breakfast.

Even if you get such an alarm clock, he may be at the point where he doesn't understand what the alarm is or how to shut it off. Or he may eventually get to that point. Unless it is absolutely necessary, why bother? Devices get beyond them, and it's much less stressful to simplify, simplify, simplify.

Re: Alexa. I know a person where I live (a senior residence) who has Alexa that does lots of things: not just wake up calls, but also reminders to take pills. However, I think unless you're very good at computers, you will need someone to set it up for you. (The woman I know has a son who is good at that kind of thing). I-phones (no experience here with androids, the main other smartphone type) SHOULD be able to be "programmable" for a regular alarm setting, i.e. it rings every day at 5 am, etc. but the newer ones by and large are very bad with alarm settings (regular or otherwise), which are complained about all the time online. Myself, I have an older smartphone that I recharge battery for, just to keep it going, and I use it exclusively for the alarm settings, which usually work very well -- i.e. this older smartphone wakes me up every day at 5 am to take a certain medication). I have a couple other things I may chime in with, as I recently spent an enormous amount of time looking for a "regular" (i.e. one that simply works!) alarm clock. Good luck.

Now days with computers you can do just about anything. I was thinking Alexa also.

I think with Alexa you can remotely set an alarm.
And you can also use it to communicate with him.

Look on alzstore.com. I looked very briefly , there was at least one you could control with an app .

I have no experience to say any are good or bad . Maybe others will .