Difficulté à communiquer avec une personne atteinte de la maladie d'Alzheimer ?

Having trouble communicating with someone with Alzheimer's disease?

  • Sometimes when a person with dementia has communication problems, observation can tell more than directly talking to them in their environment.
  • What are people doing or trying to do?
  • How exactly do they do it?
  • How do people describe what is happening? (Word choice, appropriate nonverbal communication, metaphors, etc.)
  • How do people understand what is happening?
  • What assumptions are made by you and the person concerned?
  • What do you see happening (his reactions, his body expressions)?

How Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia affect communication:

  • Difficulty maintaining attention during long conversations.
  • Repeated use of common words.
  • Difficulty naming an object or person.
  • Difficulty storing and reusing information in daily life.
  • Easy to lose one's train of thought.
  • Difficulty organizing words in a sentence.
  • Problems with abstract concepts (e.g., budgeting, planning your day).

Effective communication strategies for caregivers:

  • Limit distractions for both of you (turn off the TV, radio, move away from background noise).
  • Use short, precise sentences.
  • Limit yourself to one topic at a time.
  • Stand at her level, face her, and look at her when you talk to her.
  1. Use closed questions (especially when dementia is more advanced), such as: Did you have a good day? and not What did you do today? Avoid setting the other person up for failure.
  2. Use gestures, touches, movements, sounds.
  3. Speak directly to the person.
  4. Be patient and encourage her to take her time.
  5. Use humor.
  6. Use nonverbal communication, depending on the stage of the disease ( www.vfvalidation.org ).
  7. In case of confusing communication, do not correct the person, use diversion.
  8. Use her first or last name to address her, for example: Hello Mom, it's Marc, your son! and not Hello, it's me!
  9. Defuse difficult situations (reactive behaviors) by smiling, breathing deeply, taking the person's hand, leaving the room.

Promote meaningful daily activities that generate more autonomy, a better relationship and develop preserved capacities.

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