- Agnosia: The failure to recognise a familiar object. e.g.: Faces
- Aphasia: The loss of ability to express or understand language or problems in communication
- Expressive Language: Ability to be understood
- Receptive Language: Ability to understand others. White noise on & off.
- Apraxia: Difficulty carrying out motor functions – buttons, handwriting, utensils
- Compensation: Filling in gaps in stories is good because it shows a level of awareness.
- Insight: The ability to monitor what you’re doing & if it’s appropriate
- Disorientation: Where one is, who one is, and/or date & time of day
- Distractibility: Create the best environment. Calm & happy to focus on what you say
- Impulse Control: Lost ability to relax & do it later. Let them do it!
- Initiation: Initiation in actions get lost. You may need to start an action
- Perseveration: The tendency to ‘get stuck’ to relieve stress or anxiety
- Choosing: Show them only 2 choices. Decisions can be very challenging & they often only remember the last thing you said
- Judgement: It doesn’t matter what they wear but it matters that they are safe
- Memory: Stimulate their emotional memory & give constant reassurance
- Registration: Keep simple. An activity that requires explanation will not work for someone with this symptom
- Recall: Unpredictable memory recall. A few minutes ago, may be too long ago
- Planning: Break the steps down for them. Let them continue to do the steps they can do & only do the steps they can’t
- Sequencing: Try to keep things in order for them. How they dress, make a cup of tea or the order in which they wash
- Postponing: Telling them “in a minute” is likely to cause stress. If they need the toilet, it’s likely that they can’t wait
- Spatial Awareness: The loss of ability to judge the space around you. Falls become common as they misjudge where things like furniture are
- Way Finding: The loss of this ability occurs very early on in AD. They may avoid going anywhere alone
- Shorter attention span
- Muddled thinking
- Seeing or hearing things that aren’t there
- Incontinence
- Expressive & receptive dysphasia
- Mood swings & personality changes
- Social disinhibition
- Becoming anxious or withdrawn
- Losing capacity for self care REMEMBER
Dementia affects each person differently, Personality, History, Circumstances & Physical Health all influence the affect.
Some ‘symptoms’ of Dementia are often not direct results of the damage to the brain, but have social, environmental or physical causes.
A person with dementia not only has no concept of time but they lose the concept of what you are doing. It doesn’t matter if I’m applying mascara, showering or going to the loo, if the bar of chocolate needs opening & they need your help to do it then it needs doing IMMEDIATELY!
Listen carefully if the request is to go to the toilet, it may mean that it is imminent & five minutes wait will be too long.