October 10, 2017

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Alley Conchie

Photo by Alex Boyd on Unsplash

We aren’t born knowing how to communicate with a person with dementia—We are also not taught how to prepare ourselves should one of our precious loved ones drift away, forget and even have a personality change. There is hope in that we can learn. Learning how to communicate and acquire the skills will make caregiving less stressful and will also improve the quality of your relationship with your loved one. Being able to communicate better will help to make the difficult times that are guaranteed to come a little more bearable.

6 STEPS TO HELP YOU COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR LOVED ONE.

1. Approach your loved one with a warm positive attitude. Your attitude and body language will convey your thoughts and emotions even better than your words. Your tone of voice facial expressions and physical touch will help convey your message and show your feelings of affection. Keep your voice soft and speak in a lower tone. it is more soothing to the patient.
2. Get their attention. Make sure the environment is peaceful and quiet. Perhaps turn off the Tv and draw the curtains or shut the door. Always use their name when addressing them and use yours too as well as your relation to them to ease any confusion or stress. You can keep their attention by using nonverbal cues and soft touch. If they are seated perhaps get down to their level when speaking to them and try to keep eye contact with them.
3. Use simple words and sentences. Speak clearly and softly when addressing your loved one. keep your voice in a lower more soothing tone. If asking a question, stick to ones that require a simple, yes and no answers. If they don’t understand the question right away then repeat it exactly as before. If they are still confused, leave it for a few minutes and try again. It’s important to be patient in waiting for them to respond. Try to help with some word suggestion but don’t push them if they just can’t get their answer across.
4. In the difficult moments, try to distract and change the activity or question. If you find they are getting agitated, distressed or confused try to suggest a different activity or even suggest a walk. Try to connect with them emotionally, helping them to feel you understand them on their level.
5.  Remember to always reassure them and respond with kindness and affection. Dementia patients are often confused and unsure of themselves. Sometimes they may make up memories or times in their lives that did not occur. Do not try to tell them they are wrong and that those times didn’t happen.To them, they are very real and the emotions associated with those memories are real too. Try to reassure them and comfort them through those moments
6. Spend time reminiscing about the ‘Old days’. There is nothing more comforting than looking back at their lives using pictures and songs. These will spark happy memories. Gentle reminders of the life they have lived. perhaps even put a small and special scrapbook together of photos and letters. Baby photos, Photos of their parents and their families. Let them page through daily to keep those memories alive.