My Essay

Unit 43: Understand and enable interaction and communication with individuals who have dementia.

1.1   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 harder for the person to put a sentence together, regular responses like ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ will be maintained for the longest period of time, in the later stages of dementia the person may find it difficult to speak at all.

1.2   Explain   how physical and mental health factors may need to be considered when communicating with an individual who has dementia.
People with dementia may have other difficulties too, like loss of hearing, make sure that the hearing aids are working well and that you speak to them in a loud clear voice so they can understand you. The person could also be in pain or discomfort, they could be having side effects from medication which will affect the way they communicate with you. Other problems would be eyesight, make sure they are wearing the correct prescription of glasses. Dentures are important aswell, if the dentures are loose fitting then this will affect the person’s speech and this will be frustrating for them.

1.3   describe   how to support different communication abilities and needs of an individual with dementia who has a sensory impairment.
Support different communication abilities and needs of an individual with...