The Alzheimer's Yakker - Joanne

This article should help members of your family, or friends,understand that you can talk to a person living with Alzheimer's and you should not be reluctant or fearful.Communicating in Alzheimer's WorldHere goes.I am in another roomlistening to my sister Joanne talking to my mom. Dotty is living with Alzheimer's disease. I feel like I am in the"wayback machine" -- in the past before Dotty was diagnosed.How to Listen to an Alzheimer's PatientJoanne is talking to Dotty in the same way she had 10, 20, 30 years ago. They talk about great grand kids which delights Dotty. They talked about friends, cousins, and long ago vacations.They even talk about stuff that no longer exists. My sister, Joanne, just goes with the flow. She has learned to do this seamlessly,she does not interrupt, or correct. Sometimes she laughs and Dotty laughs right along with her.3 Ways to Redirect a Dementia Patient and Embrace RealityThey talk about everything under the sun. Everything that happened and that Dotty remembers from before she was diagnosed. Before Alzheimer's took hold of her short term memory.The long term memory is still there. All of it is still stored in Dotty's brain.Joanne was no different than any other person that gets "freaked out"when they learn about a diagnosis of dementia. When Alzheimer's strikespeople don't know what to do. They don't know how to handleall the crazy things that Alzheimer's patients sometimes say.It disconcerts all of us, and fools us into thinking you can't real...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - Category: Neurology Tags: alzheimer's Alzheimer's family alzheimer's story Alzheimers Dementia care of dementia patients communication and alzheimers conversation help alzheimer's help with dementia care Source Type: blogs