Cover up the buttons they don’t use. Color code the ones they do use. Green for play, red stop, and yellow, for pause. You could glue them on or use two sides tape. Arrows are good for forward or reverse. I do this for my patients for general controls in a nursing home with dementia. It normally works with some practice. I hope it works for all of you.

Good remote for tv is the “flipper” as long as the buttons aren’t pressed too quickly. I would encourage anyone who even has the slightest inkling there may be a future problem to get a tv which will last and if possible be remotely controlled . My daughter can change my dad’s tv even when she’s not in the house via her phone. Technology is moving faster than us for sure!

Thanks @A myALZteam Member! I'll see if we can get that to work.

I just got off the phone with Comcast, our internet provide, and they offer a large button remote that works with the DVR. It takes two weeks to get to us, but maybe that will help too. I'll probably still have to do the color coding, etc. to simplify it, but I think the bigger numbers when they want to change channels will be a big improvement.

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A myALZte...

Since the remotes I modify are owned by the nursing home, I can’t use nail polish. I use color paper, cut in circles to cover just the buttons, and lightly tape across. Velcro would work too. I cover the other buttons with just white paper held in place with tape. Do they have the ability to use a color code system to refer to? Often, so many buttons is overwhelming and just decreasing the options helps. I frequently have to mark the top of the remotes as well.

I bought the flipper for my Dad due to him getting confused with remotes can be programmed for DVR and TV. Only one button to turn them both on and has channel and volume control plus you can secure it so they don’t accidentally make changes. That has worked well for my Dad