1. Alzheimers Society Leading the fight against dementia

2. Dementia: Common Symptoms Loss of memory: names, people, places Mood changes: fear, anger, depression Communication problems: speaking and understanding Confusion: losing the way: becoming upset in uncommon situations Losing the ability to carry out actions in sequence (eg.dressing)

3. What to do generally Reduce stress Don’t ask complex questions Keep to routine as much as possible Don’t give advance warnings Calm atmosphere helps slow thinking People may lose thread easily Make remembering easy. People will forget actuals but remember anxiety.

4. Key things to remember Brain activity is slower Emotions are recalled more clearly than facts Familiarity gives security

5. Brain activity is slowed Take time: speak slowly: allow time for answers. Do not ask complex questions. Show rather than tell (use body language) Take rather than point Remember – slow doesn’t mean stupid.

6. Do not ask complex questions What did you think of the talk? Shall we have lunch now or later? What would you like to drink? Do you remember………..?

7. Coping with Loss of time and place Don’t use the clock time Use association Show rather than tell Take rather than point Make use of light changes

8. Before Speaking Get in line of vision Face the light Get their attention: speak their name Reduce background noise

9. Whilst talking Lead into the conversation: tell them what you are going to talk about Slow your rate of speech slightly Use short sentences Use names rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’ Give information in several ways

10. To help whilst talking Check the topic: eg: “Are you talking about gardening?” Avoid arguing or contradicting Accept their reality Give consistent answers to repeated questions Give time for response Don’t worry about silences

11. Emotions stronger than facts The person you talk to may not remember what you said but they will remember how it made them feel. Anxiety is easily roused People with dementia don’t always know what is wrong but they often feel stupid or annoyed that they cannot do things.