ASHA Voices: Focusing on What ’s Possible for People with Dementia

What happens when we flip the dementia intervention model from what’s wrong to what can be better? This week on the podcast, we talk about the difference a strengths-based, person-centered approach can make to patients with dementia and their families. We also consider how a voluntary stuttering approach can help children with fluency issues. Want to hear more from this episode’s guests? If you are at the 2019 ASHA Convention in Orlando, Florida, you can see two of them: Natalie Douglas and Joe Donaher. Dementia. The word alone can evoke anxiety, given the toll it can take on families. Because of that, it’s easy to focus on the symptoms. This week on the podcast, we discuss shifting our thinking to how we can maximize areas of higher functioning for these patients, rather than focusing on deficits. “Our society is so always thinking about the future and what’s next, and sometimes for people with dementia, and family members, it’s just about being in that moment and finding joy and happiness in that particular moment and treasuring that, rather than thinking about what’s coming ahead,” says SLP Becky Khayum. Also on the podcast, SLP Joe Donaher talks with us about the technique of voluntary stuttering, and how this treatment tool can relieve anxiety that can come with a fluency issue. Read the transcript for this episode: Focusing on What’s Possible for People with Dementia. Meet our guests: Becky Khayum, adjunct faculty member at Northwestern Universit...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Health Care Podcast Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: blogs