Preparing to communicate with a person with dementia
In dementia communication cases, conversations can be pretty unpredictable, so you may want to think about how you may feel if you struggle to understand each other and what would help.
Make sure you have enough time available to spend with the person. If you feel stressed or rushed, take some time to ease your mind and become calmer beforehand. Also, think about past discussions you’ve had with the person and what exactly helped you communicate well then.
Last but not least, get the person’s full attention before you start.
Things to keep in mind when it comes to conversation topics
Think about what you’re going to talk about. It’s always a good idea to have an idea for a particular topic ready. If you don’t have any idea, you can use the person’s environment to help—anything that they can hear, see, or touch may be of interest.
I’ve got 2 neighbors who have dementia. Mel is verbal and John doesn’t know me. His wife is my best friend. I go over to see her a lot. I think he gets frustrated when we leave the room because she’ll tell me what is going on. Should we stay and talk later? My other neighbor doesn’t walk and her husband says she is total care now. It’s so sad because she is only 2 yrs older than me. Is there anything I should be doing for Mel?