Assignment 371

Task A

A1) Explain how different forms of dementia can affect the way an individual communicates.

All forms of dementia can affect the way a person communicates, so in time they may have to find different ways of expressing themselves and their feelings. As a carer your non-verbal communication will become important, your body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and tone of voice will have to be taken into account when you are communicating with a sufferer. In the early stages of some forms of dementia people may have difficulty finding the right word they are looking for, and in the later stages of some forms of dementia the words could be lost completely. As the dementia progresses, it gets a lot …show more content…

Keeping a record of challenging behaviour is a good way to look for patterns in the way an individual reacts and behaves. Over time and with close observation you may find out why the person behaves the way they do, and you could stop the chain of events before they happen by making sure they are not put in that position.

Task C

C1) Explain the difference between a reality orientation approach to interactions and a validation approach.

Back years ago it was thought that a reality orientation approach was the best way to treat a person with dementia, like if they believed that their own parents were still alive, even though they weren’t, it was thought they should be told the truth to bring them back to reality, which ended up just upsetting the individual even more as dementia affects the brain so reasoning and logic don’t work, so that approach didn’t work. Thankfully the reality orientation approach is no longer recommended. In it’s place is the validation approach, where you try and validate the individual’s feelings. If the person is a widow for example, and she is asking to see her husband, she could be reminiscing about the past, about a certain event or a happy/unhappy time that she remembers clearly. If what she is thinking about has upset her, you should ask her to tell you more about her husband, this may get her to start reminiscing