Tips for Communicating Effectively with a Senior with Alzheimer’s Disease
Homecare Chester PA
Communication is one of your greatest skills as a family caregiver, and that does not change simply because you are on a homecare journey with a senior who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Being able to communicate effectively with your loved one is essential to ensuring the effectiveness and compassion of your care efforts, and to maintaining the bond of your parent-child relationship. Throughout the progression of the disease your parent’s ability to communicate will diminish and you may reach a point at which your parent is no longer able to speak to you at all. This does not mean, however, that you cannot continue to communicate with them regularly. In fact, communicating regularly regardless of the stage at which they are in their progression is a critical aspect of giving dignified, respectful, and effective care that keeps your parent’s mind engaged and helps to give meaning to the efforts that you put forth.
Use these tips to help you communicate effectively with your senior as they progress through Alzheimer’s disease:
- Avoid baby talk. No matter what stage they are in the disease, your parent is still an adult. Do not speak to them like they are children. Even if you know that they do not understand you, or that they are not going to be able to respond to you, still speak to them as you would have before they progressed this far in the disease. This is not only good for them, but it will also keep you in the mindset of taking their homecare seriously and treating them with dignity and respect in all that you do.
- Help them focus. If they are still at a stage at which they can understand you completely and communicate in some way back, and you need to say something important to them, help them focus. Do not attempt to talk to them about something important if they are distracted, such as when they are watching television, if the radio is on, or when you are cooking. Make the conversation the only thing that is going on so that both of you can focus on the importance of communication.
- Choose simple sentence structures. Be conscious of what you are saying to your loved one and present it as simply as possible without condescending. Rather than giving several pieces of information or instructions at once, give one, finish the thought, and then give another. This will make it easier for your parent to process the information and engage with what you are saying.
- Choose specific words. Keep in mind that elderly adults coping with Alzheimer’s disease tend to lose their sense of abstract thought relatively early in the loss of their communication skills. This means that they might not be able to follow you when you use pronouns such as “he”, “she”, “they”, or “it”. Rather than using these, choose the specific word that you need, rather it is calling each person by name or referring to a concrete object.
If your parent has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or is progressing through the disease and needs additional help, consider homecare services. An in home health care services provider can help your parent to address their changing needs and symptoms as they come, giving them more control over their life and their independence while keeping them safe and healthy.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Homecare Services in Chester PA, please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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