communication and dementia
Understand and enable communication
Different forms of dementia may affect the way an individual communicates.
People with alzheimers and most other types of dementia,often suffer from short-term memory loss.This means that they may be unable to remember events that have just happened or they may repeat a question after just a few minutes.They may forget names or even forget who people are all together.This can cause communication issues as they may be unaware who they are talking to,forget earlier parts of the conversation or repeat things frequently.Some people may struggle to find the right word so use words that do not sound in the right context making holding a conversation a challenge for them.
Struggling to verbally communicate will often result in someonetrying to communicate through their behaviour,this can then be mistaken for agitation or aggression again making communiation difficult.
People with vascular dementia can often suffer similar symptoms due to memory loss.People with vascular dementia also tend to have a slower thinking proccess,making everything they do slower and more difficult.It may take them a while to find the right word to finish a sentence or they may lose track of what they are trying to say.This can make communication quite slow and laboured,which can then lead to them becoming frustrated.
Dementia with Lewy Bodies also has some similar symptoms and similar affects on communication as Alzheimers.It can also however, have some quite distinct symptoms that are not nescessarily associated with other types of dementia.People with DLB tend to suffer from visual hallucinations.Hallucinations create communication difficulties as the individual is not in touch with reality when they are hallucinating.It is often hard to comfort and reassure someone who is hallucinating as the hallucinations are real to them.Acknowledging the reality of the hallucinations and trying to provide non-verbal comfort and reassurance are the best form of
Different forms of dementia may affect the way an individual communicates.
People with alzheimers and most other types of dementia,often suffer from short-term memory loss.This means that they may be unable to remember events that have just happened or they may repeat a question after just a few minutes.They may forget names or even forget who people are all together.This can cause communication issues as they may be unaware who they are talking to,forget earlier parts of the conversation or repeat things frequently.Some people may struggle to find the right word so use words that do not sound in the right context making holding a conversation a challenge for them.
Struggling to verbally communicate will often result in someonetrying to communicate through their behaviour,this can then be mistaken for agitation or aggression again making communiation difficult.
People with vascular dementia can often suffer similar symptoms due to memory loss.People with vascular dementia also tend to have a slower thinking proccess,making everything they do slower and more difficult.It may take them a while to find the right word to finish a sentence or they may lose track of what they are trying to say.This can make communication quite slow and laboured,which can then lead to them becoming frustrated.
Dementia with Lewy Bodies also has some similar symptoms and similar affects on communication as Alzheimers.It can also however, have some quite distinct symptoms that are not nescessarily associated with other types of dementia.People with DLB tend to suffer from visual hallucinations.Hallucinations create communication difficulties as the individual is not in touch with reality when they are hallucinating.It is often hard to comfort and reassure someone who is hallucinating as the hallucinations are real to them.Acknowledging the reality of the hallucinations and trying to provide non-verbal comfort and reassurance are the best form of