How Dementia Affects Language Skills

So when it's not normal, we want to recognize if it's not normal. I will tell you that a lot of cardiac events, a lot of strokes, a lot of vascular events, a lot of shortness of breath issues, a lot of chemical imbalances in the brain do this, this is very vulnerable to skill loss. and it could be temporary, it could be permanent, we want to capture changes in this area because it's vital, the ability to manipulate words is essential and vital in the way we generally interact with each other because what do I expect to do with my tail? you will get it you will be able to process it we have to recognize when we have problems here we better solve this real quick our problem is that we don't keep wanting what we can't have here and Keep thinking that you're getting more than what you're getting because we're doing this, you're getting that and they have this whole skill set.

Raise this hand, it is strong, powerful and held to the right, so let me tell you. What's there? These are all rhythm-related

skills

, with one exception. It's special, so you have

language

and rhythm, so let me help you keep it. We'll look at it in a second so you can see. Well, here we go. Hands up, the heels of your hands are going to hit your temporal loes to help you remember this and you are going to go from left to right as if you were marching. From left to right, do it again. From left to right, good

language

to the left.

Pace right now. I want you to look at me while you do it first, okay, you're ready, formal and direct language on the left, rhythm on the right, now you need to kick that punch, you need to get some rhythmic action because I want you to have a full body memory CU of what they keep and what they lose and I want you to keep it now this is simplified but it's the basics of what they keep and it's the basics of where things are, it's complicated but I don't want to make it too hard for you, So what do we have here?

Language on the left Rhythm on the right now you lose to the left you retain to the right you lose to the left you retain to the right so here are your four rhythm

skills

that you keep plus one of this is the number one automatic social chat special them They keep the automatic social chat cat because it's really hey honey, how are you? automatic chatter and it makes them seem like in a social situation everything is fine and everyone says I don't know what's bothering you she sounds great come by a day spend a day at my house because once we get over this Do this, that's shallow talk.

What is missing is depth. I can't do the depth. I can do the talk. He's still there. It will be there for a long time, even at the end of the illness. yeah, you got a nice penis, yeah, that's nice, that's nice, everyone have a nice pen, oh, I like it too, that's nice, oh boy, now I give it to everyone because it's like, what did he say she? Remember, I said there was a special ability here. I just showed it to you. for you what is sticking out your thumb the special skill is forbidden words your vocabulary that you cannot use in public is stored on the right side now there are four categories bad words SE talk remember the first time like Little boy, you said mommy, what is a penis? and she said honey, okay, but let's not say that in the supermarket so loudly, well, I don't have a penis, Bobby has a penis, Tia, here's the deal.

I'll tell you in the car why. Can't we talk about it here because there are rules about penises and we talk about them in private? ugly words for other groups, others or other categories of people we don't trust, like wanting to be around race, oh yeah, and bad news about race is visual, wow, Bad News Bears because I lost all my good words and what I have less of are the unpleasant things and then the last one, the ugly words, shut up, you're an idiot, stupid and fat, so they are preserved, they are preserved in almost all the brains of people with

dementia

and the reason why We think they are because they are used routinely in humans. for a particular reason, I'll show it to you in a second so we can have a normal chat.

Second skill I have. This is very important. Do this rhythm. I have rhythm. I can give it and I can get it. I still have the rhythm of speech. and I can give the rhythm of speech even when I have no content have and get and we are g down G get get you have to enter and you have you have enter b b put right P yes, him, you have those tits now imagine I'm in church and I'm the wife from a judge, our society is not so attuned to this that we do this as soon as we hear that type of thing, you know better than that and what I'm going to tell you is that we need to educate everyone you know what it's not about knowing more than that is what I have left is a skill unfortunately it's not just the rhythm it's also the forbidden words and I don't have a boy, you look good in that outfit, it's very cute, in fact I did some of that, but then I wanted say more and when I went to say more you have nice breasts, it could have been that you looked very good in that outfit, but I couldn't express all that anymore. nice outfit, nice breasts, you got that.

A mark and what I don't realize is where I shouldn't, where I shouldn't use these words anymore because that part is gone, but now I know the words, if you make me angry, yeah, done, so I give rhythm but I also get rhythm . not necessarily happy because that's speech vocabulary understanding and speech production early in this people will miss four words how before you get there you think at the beginning of this people will miss four words how before you get there you think ear look early in this people will miss four words how before you got lost do you think you speak english at the beginning of this disease people will miss one in four words how long before you got lost do you think at the beginning of this people will miss will miss four words, like before you came, do you think all I did was skip every fourth word and it's amazing how quickly you miss the boat and then what they do is called talking on tangents, they have tangential speech because they are trying to follow it, but they get lost quite easily even from the beginning because on average you are missing four fingers, one out of four and if one out of four you are missing it is a content word like a noun and you don't understand it and it's not like I'm doing this on purpose, I just miss this, I keep this pace, so my brain says you're getting it, so let me give you another example of how to keep the pace.

This is early in certain

dementia

s and is called primary progressive aphasia in particular. type of dementia and this particular type of dementia a variation fluent not non-fluent I'll show you not fluent in a minute you'll understand but listen, do you know that the articulation of that phenomenon is the only one? which many people find particularly articulated and that's what I wanted to point out when you find that articulation occurs that is the one that you will want to precipitate and the precipitation will result in the phenomenological event that you are looking for so that it really has the sea in whatever you want participate.

I agree, well I find it absolutely fascinating. Don't you think that articulation is something we should participate in? Now his eyes crossed and his brain went, oh, I hope I didn't sign. I prepared myself for something I don't want to do now I want to point out when I did it, how hard you found your brain working, your brain kept going, you kept going, okay, wait a minute, no, oh, there was a word, oh, the I recognize, but they don't seem to go together and your brain is fighting because you hear all these words and in your mind it's like you can feel your faces go away.

I have no idea what she's talking about but it seems like it should make sense because it had great rhythm and then you found yourself looking at me very closely you all are watching me very closely thinking well I'll be able to figure this out she'll get to a point where For everything to make sense, it's like going to the doctor's office when he says well, now what we're going to do is we're going to have to adjust your range of motion because what you've had is a muscle impingement and the muscle impingement is going to cause pain. in the nerves. and we want to be careful not to cause that articulated joint to not work, so what am I supposed to do?

So, you're looking for a translation, the challenge here is that I have this. beautiful beat I have absolutely no content and about nine times out of ten I won't know I'm pointless I think I'm still sharing valuable content and when you act like it's pointless and give me back signs that say I don't understand what you are. I get nervous because I don't understand how you can't understand this. I mean you. I'm being as clear as I know how and I mean what I'm giving you. You have great content, you have to watch it very carefully.

I want you to look at yourself. I want one person to say that now you know the phenomenological event that we are looking at, that is the one that will articulate everything and I want the other one. person to go what are you talking about and I want you to really look baffled and I want you to leave? I want you to give me a good strong visual cue. You don't make any sense. Try to use words I can understand. I want you to do it. question, actually, stand in front of a person and make that kind of reaction.

Now I will tell you that you will see a variety of reactions from me if I think you are really stupid because I can. I didn't realize I didn't know I was making mistakes I wasn't aware of what the most likely reaction was. I get angry with you. How stupid are you? What are you idiot? And now this thing kicks in and I start being really bad. For you, on the other hand, let's say I have a conscience and I'm anxious and nervous and I'm starting to notice that I'm sorry, I'm not and what I do is stop talking, a lot of these people will choose to stay silent because they do recognize it. and I know I'm losing my ability now this is where I'm going to want to be with my partner from now on I don't want to be separated from my spokesperson because if not I don't have a person who can speak for me.

I'm mute and now I panic every time this primary is out of my sight. I want them to be right where I can see them because they speak for me and if I don't know. where they are and you say I'm just going to run to the store no please don't do that because I and this is where I'm going to hold on to people because I understand that speech is so critical in our environment in our world that if I don't have a way to connect. I literally panic so much that I can't function and I will have panic attacks if you try to get away from me because I am so afraid that no, I won't be.

I won't do it. I know how to get there and I know I can, so this is the moment of real heartbreak and it really sucks. I mean, it's beyond horrible when my whole life I've been a speaker, a conversationalist, a lawyer, a teacher, a secretary. words to connect to communicate and now I have done it and I know it and I know that when I try it it doesn't make any sense and so many people have rhythm but they don't have content and what we do is see what they can't do instead of going to the side where They have strength and work from the side that is held back and we make them feel more confident and because they feel uncomfortable they stop trying and that third group ooh, the strong people, damn group of whole damn idiots.

You group of fucking stupid people, all of you full of each of you now, what is my reputation every time you come near me? I'm bad, it seems like I want to say and what I do is have a conscience and I'm so scared, I don't want to put myself out there so I'm busy, I write words, I write notes about what I'm going to say and then I get there and you try to trick me and I fall apart and I go to Those Ugly Words because I'm really afraid of getting caught and that's why I often say things or just talk.

Those are the people who have no idea until you give it to them. This makes sense? Well then, rhythm. but I also understand the rhythm of speech, this is what we miss. I understand the rhythm of speech, so are you ready? Yeah, yeah, now you're ready to take off, right? GNA, let me do that, okay, distribute, come on, because what we are going to do we will do and we will end timeout okay, you are fine with that okay, turn around a little okay, what are we going to do okay, now you have right, yeah, yeah, now you're not. okay, now, your hand, do it, okay, you're ready, okay, three, okay, now let me ask you something.

You thought I was a person with dementia, right? Yeah, uh, I'm your caregiver and you have moderately severe dementia. What did? You got the whole rhythm of my speech. You could tell exactly when I was asking the question by the beat and you knew to respond and then I gave you visual cues as to the answer I wanted to hear. I nodded when I wanted to. I gave you a very good picture, by the way, they are all automatic, so I asked you to say what I wanted you to say, but what I didn't realize was that you never understood anything I said.

Now tell me your name, Jud Jud, okay. Jud stay here for a second what I want to point out is that everything I did just so you know that I'm going to give you the tail and from now on you can better understand everything I did. It was putting my tongue down so I didn't articulate as clearly so I stole the consonants and left you the vowels okay hey hang up how am I going to give you a shower okay okay okay okay now won't you see how you're starting to understand my language nowbecause once they tell you what's missing your brains are amazing they're so good at understanding they went and found the missing pieces and they're putting the puzzle back together because you're intact and now you're curious now yeah, hello, one day, another, that That's what I like about you because one day is totally different from the next okay, okay, you're right, yes, take off well, take off your pants first, yes, okay, are you ready now in this scenario?

Let me be very clear about understanding. It was what was the first feeling that it was very clear to him what he was going to do when he touched him and in his opinion this was just a social interaction, he had no idea that this went beyond social things, he thought I was chatting with him . a nice moment he didn't understand but it seemed to him that we were being very friendly I was being very friendly I was ready yes and he says yes and then with your person facing you turn around and look towards them I want you to make sure that you are facing them to let's get an idea of ​​how horrible this really is okay let's stay here okay now turn around and this is what I want you to do I want you to look at them and they smile and then they look at their shirt and they realize that they have a big oatmeal and water right there uhoh, that's a really nasty wad, I mean, it's huge and what I want you to do is the classic character, okay, now I want you to smile and smile Adam, okay, here it is the new piece, well, here is the new piece that I'm going to give you.

Remember I said vision changes. What they lose is peripheral awareness The Edge and their field of vision becomes smaller and smaller because they remain curious, which is. your central field and you lose the edge which is security awareness, so your field of vision becomes smaller and smaller, so at this point in the Z's, at best, do this. Put on binoculars. This is the part of the world you can pay attention to at once. When you're right in front of them like this, what part of you asked them to pay attention to your face and that's why they're looking at your face?

Then the person with dementia puts on the binoculars. The person who is helping you smile and say and now make sure you have nodded and shake them and now reach out for his shirt, what do you realize for the first time that they can't see you coming? They have no idea that you are about to make contact with your shirt because I think you are being social and with the loss of vision and the change in understanding, this touch came out of nowhere. They didn't expect it at all. Try this. We're really going to work on these skills this afternoon, but I want you to try this. put that on that's fine, yeah, oh, oh, I got it, do it, yeah, perfect, okay, thanks, try that on your partner and see how it feels.

No, it is important here that I am watching all of you. Point to yourself first. Look down at your own point. and then look at theirs and point, don't reach out and put your hand on it right away, point out where they can see and then you make the move and then point at theirs, that's two steps, thanks J, okay, so we have two languages. There are skills left to review here before we take our break and it's almost lunchtime so I better hurry. There is much more to learn. We're going to learn a lot more with skills this afternoon, but I want to end it here.

What's here? that's starting to disappear what is vocabulary understanding speech production losing the skill what are we maintaining the strength here automatic social chat the rhythm of speech this is the gift this is the blessing this is what you want to hook because it is a Retained skill for about the 98% of humans who develop any form of dementia music poetry prayer Rhythmic music poetry and prayer will be able to sing when they cannot speak will be able to sing will be able to do prayer if it is old family prayer, so in this group I bet I have a majority of people Our Father Yes, how about this one?

The Lord is My Shepherd. How do you know he wasn't going to be? The Lord is my God. The Lord is mine. Why did he go? it is the Lord it is my shepherd because it is the 20th yes it is what we do when we are in moments of emotional need and it is strongly linked to this thing this rhythm this music this poetry this prayer is hooked to the emotional center it is our strength this is the gift that we have and what they have and this is the way we can connect with each other if we learn to use that gift many of you have already begun to notice that when I speak I speak with a lot of rhythm I use rhythm and pauses in my speech combined with quantities incredible visual queues to emphasize the message and thus have the opportunity to convey it.

Yes, now that doesn't mean you will get stronger, it means you will get richer, smoother, fuller and deeper with your tails, but this is the gift, the problem is that we forget that it is a gift and we are all worried for what they lose, not for what they keep, and this is the really interesting part, when you do this, it often comes on because there is wiring from side to side and when I use what they can do, the wiring comes on and all of a sudden, over a short period of time, many people can speak more clearly, they can understand what you are telling them and this is the way to get there, you use what they still have and the last little one at the end, another strength is that I move with rhythm to be able to dance better than walking.

I'm walking I barely move with a walker that you put on me. I have a rhyme and suddenly I'm and you. Seriously, I can do this one too. Look what happens here. Why didn't you repeat me? I can help you stand better. I can help you sit better because what I'm doing is giving you that anticipatory rhythm. What's next? Now you have to be prepared for what I didn't understand and you may have to do it a little. a couple of times and you might have to break it down a little bit more, but learning to use what I have remember I also have this one, what makes me do this one is when you shake up my lyrical system, that's what I have to understand you make me get angry you scare me you do anything that scares me because we get these words first you learn them somewhere when you are between 2 and 7 years old you are somewhere and you hear a word in everyone this room somewhere between two and seven you learned the first You came home and you said hey Mom and your mom went to what you went to and Mom said where did you hear that who told you that Johnny well, we don't use words like that.

I never want to listen go wash your mouth that was open I'm going to tell you something if I ever hear you use that word again you're going to be in a lot of trouble young lady do you understand me yes I'm that you now? You look very sad, your brain is going oh look, I found a word, a special word, this is great, this was a special word, boy, that caused a reaction, but what he said is better not to leave this in the vocabulary normal, I never want to do this in front of mom again this was a problem but I don't want to lose the word it was a special word where can I put it where can I clip it where can I keep it where could I have it if I want it if I need it at some point period, I know I will I'll put in the rhythm section so you start your storage unit and you have bad words, sexual words, racial slurs, ugly words, everything is stored there.

Now, what they discovered, they investigated this. This is important. in a parking lot, alone, with no one around you, you accidentally slam your fingers on a car door, nine, nine out of 10 of you will do this, ready, slam, you do the little dance, there's a dance, there's a little dance and there's the hand throw that goes with it and you say the word and you say it with emphasis now, what happens when you do that quickly in your brain? Your brain lowers the level of cortisol and releases endorphins. Stress relief. Pain reduction. Yes, that's where they come in handy.

I have to save them for special occasions so that they have that gift, that power, so here is my anticipation with the Next Generation, this is what they are going to say, please, thank you, thank you very much, because it is clear that it will not be like this . It is no longer there and there is nothing else either because it is so common everywhere that they are not going to use it especially, but now comes the complicated part with each adult person when they did the same thing and put you in the same situation. and you slammed your finger on the doors of the carard and there was a three year old boy standing next to your car, this is what would happen to nine out of 10 of you, one of you didn't care, but the rest of you got hit, oh, shoot, oh. man that hurts, hello little one, oh what don't you get?

You don't get stress reduction or pain relief, but your frontal lobe activated and you weren't the one teaching that kid that word that was really important for you to contain those fools. So what does that mean? Well, when you have dementia, things change, get ready, those kids are going to learn those words anyway, let's not separate them from our elders and let's not make this a disease of isolation simply because of what I've left behind. What we must do is learn to use what we have that has value and that is what we are going to do this afternoon.

What I wanted to do this morning is separate the myth from the reality about what this thing called dementia is and why we are so afraid. We see it well because it looks kind of like normal aging, but it's not, and then when we see it, sometimes we don't recognize it for what it is and what we keep recognizing is what they're losing, but we miss some of that and We surely miss what you still have, so this afternoon will be spent developing your skill set as we look deeper into the brain and understand all that is gone and all that remains well.