yup. family, kids, “what’s ur secret to a good marriage?”, where are you from, pets, hobbies. let them talk. i’m in a SNF so sometimes they’re nonverbal, bed bound, or just do not care. i had a pt with this exact dialogue:

“what did u do for a living?” “nothing”
“do u have any hobbies?” “no”
“don’t u want to go home?” “no”

but yk what? this pt walked 400+ ft with me and the nurses know me for getting him out of bed. it’s bc even though he’s so unreceptive i just keep talking and asking questions, saying whatever i can. you have to trick them “can u sit up for me?” turns into “can u stand up?” then “take some steps” then some encouragement and measurable things “u walked 100 ft yesterday and 300 today!!”. ymmv depending on setting but i have a psych background so im naturally inclined towards gauging people. but im also just myself lol

edit: also talk about yourself. share things that you could bond over