Dementia Flashcards
What is CADASIL (i.e., cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy)?
a very rare form of dementia; symptoms may include apathy, depression, anxiety, lack of motivation, and issue with visuospatial skills
What are considered cognitive functions?
executive functions, attention, and memory
What part of the brain mainly controls executive functions?
prefrontal cortices
What are examples of executive functions?
problem-solving, self-regulation, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, self-monitoring, reasoning, insight, working memory, and judgement
How does executive functions relate to communication?
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.
Right hemisphere brain damage is associated with
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
To treat issues with attention due to RHBD, one should use
resource allocation treatment
For communication, the left hemisphere is responsible for which domains of language?
phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics
For communication, the right hemisphere is responsible for which domain of language?
pragmatics, visuoperception, and attention
What part of the brain is responsible for social cognition (i.e., the interpretation of communication)?
frontal lobes with extensions to temporal and parietal lobes
To increase understanding between a dementia patient and their family, you can encourage this indirect therapy method:
using proper nouns instead of pronouns since people with dementia struggle to recall information and use filler words
What are common symptoms caused by Lewy Body dementia?
muscle stiffness, poor coordination, reduced balance, vocal weakness, visual hallucinations, and sleep deprivation
What is a righting reflex?
a reflext in which the body adjusts itself when it is altered in the upright position
What are symptoms of frontotemporal dementia?
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
What is the neuropathology of dementia?
neurofibrillary tangles; neuronal loss; chemical changes; plaques
What is dementia
a acquired neurogenic disease that is progressive; symptoms include issues with language, memory, thinking, visuospatial skills, construction, emotion, behavior, and intellectual functioning
Early onset AD occurs up to age _______ , whereas late onset AD occurs up to age _________
60/65; 70 to 80
How can an SLP clinically manage dementia?
slowing the progression of symptoms through compensatory strategies and communication training. Family and caregiver support matters too.
What compensatory strategies can be used to clinically manage dementia?
use environmental cues to improve memory and behavior; establish a simple routine; use written lists; keep important information in one place
What is the difference between nonfluent primary progressive aphasia vs semantic variant primary progressive aphasia?
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
Communication training includes
cognitive rehab; cognitive simulation, and cognitive training
What is multiple systems atrophy?
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.
What is frontotemporal dementia associated with Pick’s disease?
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
What are signs and symptoms of early onset alzheimer’s disease associated with dementia?
depression; disorientation; issues with learning and visuospatial; subtle memory problems
What are signs and symptoms of late onset alzheimer’s disease associated with dementia?
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
What language problems are associated with dementia of the alzheimer’s type
struggle to find words; echolalia; empty speech and jargon used; struggle to understand abstract concepts; difficulties with pragmatics, reading, and writing;
What are symptoms of Huntington’s Disease?
chorea; uncontrollable tic-like movements; less voluntary movements; become irritable as the disease worsens
What are the speech, language, and cognitive-linguistic problems associated with Huntington’s Disease?
muteness; dysarthria; dysphagia; trouble sleeping; impaired naming skills
What is a mild cognitive impairment?
diagnosing a condition as mild when it only affects one domain (e.g., memory)
What is the neuropathology of frontotemporal dementia?
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
What are the behavioral symptoms of frontotemporal dementia?
delusions; irritability; poor judgement and reasoning; apathy; depression; inappropriate social behavior
What is the neuropathology of dementia associated with Huntington’s Disease?
loss of neurons in the basal ganglia; atrophy in prefrontal and parietal lobes; reduced levels of inhibitory neurotransmitters
What are the speech, language, and related deficits associated with dementia related to Parkinson’s disease?
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
What is the difference between Logopenic PPA, Semantic PPA; and Non-fluent PPA?
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