Communication is an essential asset in everyday life. It helps develop and maintain relationships, request items, ask questions, and it is allows us to live a meaningful life. When communication is taken away, your whole life is affected. Those who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease have trouble communicating with others by having trouble with word recall, names, forgetting what the conversation topic is, along with so many others. With these difficulties they experience, it can be real easy for you, and the person affected to become frustrated.

As a loved one, it can be hard to see these issues arise when the person starts exhibiting these symptoms. You are used to communicating with them so easily, and when that is taken away, it is a huge loss to the relationship. As the disease progresses, it takes even more of them away which is heartbreaking to watch and deal with in daily life. When dealing with these frustrations, it is important to be encouraging and patient with the person dealing with Alzheimer’s.

A few things you can do to encourage communication with the individual is to be intentional.  Maintain eye contact throughout, hold their hand, maintain a soft and nice tone when speaking to them, and most importantly be patient. When making decisions for the person, make sure to keep the patient involved in the process. The person wants to be treated just as they were prior to the disease, so it is crucial that you do not “baby” them or talk about the person in front of them. Just remember to always be sensitive to their needs and to be understanding and patient.

By Ashlyn Byrd