“If we observe them closely, we notice that they do not listen to the answers given to them but simply keep repeating the questions. What seems to be an eager curiosity is in reality a means of keeping a person they need near at hand” – Maria Montessori 1914.

Maria Montessori was talking about children. However, this is equally true of older people living with dementia whose memory difficulties and problem solving makes them insecure and uncertain. And so they seek out attachment figures who make them feel secure and safe, calm the uncertainty and anxiety that memory loss provokes.