A diagnosis of dementia can constrain the lives of those who must live not only with their cognitive and functional deficits, but also with the panoply of disabling metaphors, cultural expectations, and stigma that have come to be associated with dementing conditions such as so-called Alzheimer's disease. Considerable heterogeneity exists in these conditions that overlap with normal aging. Hence, they can be considered not only as biological problems to solve, but also as opportunities for individuals and communities to choose how to adapt to the challenges of brain aging.In response to this cultural reality, there has emerged a renewed interest in promoting quality of life (QOL) for those with dementia and in developing psychosocial interventions that can re-integrate persons into meaningful roles within the social fabric and perhaps postpone the moredisabling aspects of cognitive and functional decline.Emerging evidence is demonstrating that there may be a range of biopsychosocial benefits for older adults who form relationships with children through intergenerational volunteering programs, 1-9 but most existing data have been derived from cross-sectional and retrospective observational studies, and only a few intergenerational volunteering programs have been evaluated using randomized models.10 Generally, there is a lack of high-quality data on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions on the QOL of persons with dementia.A 5-month, mixed-methods intervention study was designed at The Intergenerational School (TIS) in ClevelandFa high-performing charter school that serves 200 inner-city students in multi-age classrooms and creates a formal mentorship role for persons with dementiaFto evaluate whether a structured intergenerational volunteering program could enhance the QOL of persons with mild to moderate dementia. It was hoped that qualitative data collected from participants through narrative interviews and focus groups and through ethnographic observation could elucidate what QOL meant for persons with mild to moderate dementia and how interaction with children influenced QOL. These data would then be triangulated with change scores on five psychometric variables established as important markers for QOL in dementia: cognitive functioning, stress, depression, sense of purpose, and sense of usefulness.From January 2008 to May 2008, eight persons from a local assisted living facilityFseveral of whom were residents on the locked ''Alzheimer's'' unitFvisited TIS each Wednesday afternoon and were involved in direct volunteering experiences with children aged 5 to 14. Participants alternated every other week between hour-long visits with a kindergarten-aged classroom, during which they interacted with children and engaged in singing and small-group reading and writing activities, and an older elementary classroom, where they broke into smaller groups with two to three students and participated in intergenerational lifehistory reminiscence sessions. A control group of seven persons with dementia met eight tim...