Dementia

Question 1

What is CADASIL (i.e., cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy)?

Answer 1

a very rare form of dementia; symptoms may include apathy, depression, anxiety, lack of motivation, and issue with visuospatial skills

Question 2

What are considered cognitive functions?

Answer 2

executive functions, attention, and memory

Question 3

What part of the brain mainly controls executive functions?

Answer 3

prefrontal cortices

Question 4

What are examples of executive functions?

Answer 4

problem-solving, self-regulation, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, self-monitoring, reasoning, insight, working memory, and judgement

Question 5

How does executive functions relate to communication?

Answer 5

During conversations, you must understand the other person’s point of view (theory of mind), store their response in your working memory, inhibit immediate responses, and provide an appropriate pragmatic response.

Question 6

Right hemisphere brain damage is associated with

Answer 6

aprosodia; struggles with attention, memory, and executive function; difficulty with empathy, difficulty with understanding non-literal language and with pragmatics; disorganized and unrelated discourse; struggle with inference and understanding the main idea

Question 7

To treat issues with attention due to RHBD, one should use

Answer 7

resource allocation treatment

Question 8

For communication, the left hemisphere is responsible for which domains of language?

Answer 8

phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics

Question 9

For communication, the right hemisphere is responsible for which domain of language?

Answer 9

pragmatics, visuoperception, and attention

Question 10

What part of the brain is responsible for social cognition (i.e., the interpretation of communication)?

Answer 10

frontal lobes with extensions to temporal and parietal lobes

Question 11

To increase understanding between a dementia patient and their family, you can encourage this indirect therapy method:

Answer 11

using proper nouns instead of pronouns since people with dementia struggle to recall information and use filler words

Question 12

What are common symptoms caused by Lewy Body dementia?

Answer 12

muscle stiffness, poor coordination, reduced balance, vocal weakness, visual hallucinations, and sleep deprivation

Question 13

What is a righting reflex?

Answer 13

a reflext in which the body adjusts itself when it is altered in the upright position

Question 14

What are symptoms of frontotemporal dementia?

Answer 14

profanity, impolite behavior, anomia, become mute over time, limited comprehension of speech and abstract language; struggle with memory; difficulty naming things, so they use paraphasias and circumlocutions

Question 15

What is the neuropathology of dementia?

Answer 15

neurofibrillary tangles; neuronal loss; chemical changes; plaques

Question 16

What is dementia

Answer 16

a acquired neurogenic disease that is progressive; symptoms include issues with language, memory, thinking, visuospatial skills, construction, emotion, behavior, and intellectual functioning

Question 17

Early onset AD occurs up to age _______ , whereas late onset AD occurs up to age _________

Answer 17

60/65; 70 to 80

Question 18

How can an SLP clinically manage dementia?

Answer 18

slowing the progression of symptoms through compensatory strategies and communication training. Family and caregiver support matters too.

Question 19

What compensatory strategies can be used to clinically manage dementia?

Answer 19

use environmental cues to improve memory and behavior; establish a simple routine; use written lists; keep important information in one place

Question 20

What is the difference between nonfluent primary progressive aphasia vs semantic variant primary progressive aphasia?

Answer 20

nonfluent PPA is characterized by anomia, impaired memory and cognition, word finding difficulties and apraxia of speech, so they struggle with articulation, fluency, and repetition; they may become apathetic, disorganized, and aggressive

semantic variant is characterized by losing the ability to derive meaning from words; talk a lot and with no inhibition; visual agnosia (can’t identify objects in the environment) and prosopagnosia (can’t recognize faces); become irritable and compulsive, progressively shorter senteces to the point where they become mute

Question 21

Communication training includes

Answer 21

cognitive rehab; cognitive simulation, and cognitive training

Question 22

What is multiple systems atrophy?

Answer 22

a neurodegenerative disorder that results in poor balance, rigid muscles, slow movement, breathing, and fainting. Struggles with speaking and walking may result too. There are no cures.

Question 23

What is frontotemporal dementia associated with Pick’s disease?

Answer 23

A form of dementia in which there is memory and orientation are preserved but there is progressive loss of vocab, paraphasia, circumlocution, and dominant language problems

Question 24

What are signs and symptoms of early onset alzheimer’s disease associated with dementia?

Answer 24

depression; disorientation; issues with learning and visuospatial; subtle memory problems

Question 25

What are signs and symptoms of late onset alzheimer’s disease associated with dementia?

Answer 25

lack of affect; hyperactivity; worsened memory; disruptive behaviors; seizures; really hard for them to recall recent events; delusional and hallucinating; inappropriate humor and laughter; seizures; struggle to manage daily routines

Question 26

What language problems are associated with dementia of the alzheimer’s type

Answer 26

struggle to find words; echolalia; empty speech and jargon used; struggle to understand abstract concepts; difficulties with pragmatics, reading, and writing;

Question 27

What are symptoms of Huntington’s Disease?

Answer 27

chorea; uncontrollable tic-like movements; less voluntary movements; become irritable as the disease worsens

Question 28

What are the speech, language, and cognitive-linguistic problems associated with Huntington’s Disease?

Answer 28

muteness; dysarthria; dysphagia; trouble sleeping; impaired naming skills

Question 29

What is a mild cognitive impairment?

Answer 29

diagnosing a condition as mild when it only affects one domain (e.g., memory)

Question 30

What is the neuropathology of frontotemporal dementia?

Answer 30

deterioration of neurons in the left and right frontal lobes and temporal lobes; presence of swollen cells and Pick bodies in the frontal and temporal lobes

Question 31

What are the behavioral symptoms of frontotemporal dementia?

Answer 31

delusions; irritability; poor judgement and reasoning; apathy; depression; inappropriate social behavior

Question 32

What is the neuropathology of dementia associated with Huntington’s Disease?

Answer 32

loss of neurons in the basal ganglia; atrophy in prefrontal and parietal lobes; reduced levels of inhibitory neurotransmitters

Question 33

What are the speech, language, and related deficits associated with dementia related to Parkinson’s disease?

Answer 33

impaired naming skills; issue with visuospatial recognition and abstract reasoning; reduced speech volume; monopitch and monoloudness; dysarthric speech; micrographia; slow/fast speech or festinations; apathy, confusion, and delirium; long and frequent pauses in speech

Question 34

What is the difference between Logopenic PPA, Semantic PPA; and Non-fluent PPA?

Answer 34

Logopenic PPA: impaired sentence comprehension
Nonfluent PPA: apraxia; impaired memory and cognition
Semantic PPA: mutism; visual agnosia and prosopagnosia; excessive and disinhibited speech; loss of word meaning