Communicating With Dementia Essay

Communication eases anxiety of the patients and eliminates more possibilities for mistakes, and lets each party know what is expected of them it also helps the care worker to communicate and use their skills to meets the service user’s rights and needs. In a care home, there are elderly people who may have speech difficulties, be hard of hearing, but the care worker should not use the effective communication skills too much because if the care worker speaks to one of the elderly which has hearing difficulties he must ensure he does not speak to loud as the elderly person may feel intimidated and may feel that the care worker is

Dementia sufferers communicate in many different ways. They may not be able to speak but they can communicate non-verbally with positive or negative behaviour. They can also communicate using body language and through posture.

All forms of dementia can affect the way a person communicates, so in time they may have to find different ways of expressing themselves and their feelings. As a carer your non-verbal communication will become important, your body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and tone of voice will have to be taken into account when you are communicating with a sufferer. In the early stages of some forms of dementia people may have difficulty finding the right word they are looking for, and in the later stages of some forms of dementia the words could be lost completely. As the dementia progresses, it gets a lot

Dementia is a loss of brain function. If affects memory, thinking, language, judgement and behaviour. Dementia is progressive, so the symptoms will gradually get worse. In a later stage of dementia people will find it hard to carry out daily tasks and will come dependant on other people.

Also a person with dementia has very poor or no short term memory at all, so when it comes to making descisions the answer may change quite alot because they have poor memory recall they may say yes one minute then say no to the exact same question because they cant remember what was asked before hand.

Dementia sufferers communicate in many different ways. They may not be able to speak but they can communicate non-verbally with positive or negative behaviour. They can also communicate using body language and through posture.

Dementia Syndrome is a condition caused by a set of symptoms. These symptoms can include but are not limited to: - memory loss, mood changes, communication difficulties, difficulty understanding or thinking.

• Every individual, including individuals with dementia, has their unique life history, lifestyle, culture and preferences, including their likes, dislikes, hobbies and interests, which makes an individualised approach in care necessary.

If an individual that has dementia and also has a sensory impairment it is important for care providers to assess the communication abilities of that person and to support different methods that the person may have when they are trying to communicate with you for instance a person that wears a hearing aid may have forgotten or have been unable to turn it on because of there dementia by simply having a quick check hat it is fitted correctly and is turned on you have aided the person in being able to communicate better there are many other items that may also be beneficial to an individual with sensory loss, flash cards with simple instructions words and picture on may be good if a person is having difficulty expressing what they need, sign language may also be good for those with hearing impairments.

1.1 Losing the ability to communicate can be one of the most frustrating and difficult problems for people with dementia, their families and carers. As the illness progresses, a person with dementia experiences a gradual lessening of their ability to communicate. They find it more and more difficult to express themselves clearly and to understand what others say.

Positive interactions can help reduce agitation caused by frustration and give a person a feeling that they do matter. By lending an understanding ear to someone with Alzheimer's to verbalize their frustrations, worries and fears, the negative emotions can diminish. This will contribute to better cognitive functioning and behaviour. Dementia can be a lonely illness and giving someone you time and undivided attention can help them to remain centred and calm.

The use of language is important, when talking to residents you need to keep things simpler than if you were talking to residents without dementia, however if you’re talking to an adult using very simple instructions this may seem patronising, it is important to choose your language carefully.

An individual’s background can influence their communication methods in many ways. Such as the way someone has been brought up, their different values in life, their relationships with family members. These can all be a factor to how they communicate with others. These factors can effect communication because if their relationships have been quite hard and they do not see their own families much, the individual will find it difficult to trust and open up to the care managers at the nursing home. This will make it hard for the care managers to get to know the real them and it will be difficult to recognize any problems that appear. Also it depends what the individual’s medical history is. They could be on a type of medication which effects there communication. They could suffer from having dementia or a stroke, there for this can effort your communication massively. With all three factors you might have to use simple sentences or even using picture cards as the individual might find it easier to understand what you’re

I found that non verbal communication was the best way to interact with this woman and also to make her feel a sense of peace and ease. At the beginning I used hand gestures mostly such as pointing to objects to see if that was what she wanted however as the weeks went on I discovered that she enjoyed the sense of being touched and therefore I was often given the opportunity to paint her nails and massage her hands. ‘You may need to use some hand gestures to make yourself understood. Pointing or demonstrating can help. Touching and holding the persons hand may help keep their attention and them that you care.’http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Dementia_-communication accessed 14/4/15. Knowing the best way to calm this service user when she was frustrated really gave me an advantage during communication and made her feel comfortable around me. This I felt was such a strength as it made not just the service user but myself comfortable and relaxed.

In the pamphlet Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease, the Alzheimer’s Association adds late onset, traditionally known simply as Alzheimer’s, targets primarily people 65 and older. The disease follows a series of steps from mild decline with little noticed changes to very severe cognitive decline where the final stage of the disease is in progress (Basic 19-21). Throughout the stages, independence becomes lost and family members will become care takers and in the later stages nursing homes or hospice may be needed. One book encourages the care giver to communicate through body language, tone, and written instructions to help alleviate as much stress as possible for those living with Alzheimer’s (Living 47). The book further adds when caring for a person with Alzheimer’s remember to maintain patience and to show respect .