Breaking The Silence Of Dementia

Massey University Speech and Language Therapy students are using patience, skill, empathy and creative tools to help those with dementia maintain and improve their language skills. Lack of communication is frustrating for both dementia patients and their families. Often is it accepted as part of the condition, but there is help at hand.

Alicia Posthuma is in her third year of the four-year Bachelor of Speech and Language Therapy programme offered through the Institute of Education at Massey’s Auckland campus. She visits several people with dementia regularly, and is finding there is a way to break through the language and memory blocks caused by dementia.

Alicia collected photos of former naval officer John Allen, who has developed dementia,  to create the memory book that is successfully engaging his attention; memories of him as a young Naval officer in the Royal British Navy and of his later life as a family man. She has added images of naval warships, and men in different naval uniforms in the hope these will trigger memories and words. They do.

She makes comments and gently fishes for Mr Allen’s thoughts. It is a slow and painstaking process, but he is able to offers his thoughts and recollections between pauses and lead other conversational tangents.

She says it is important not to pressure a person with dementia with a barrage of questions. “Often people with dementia can’t answer questions,” says Alicia. “Our work is about getting to know a person and building a rapport with them. Often when they come to see us, they will open up quite a lot. They know we will listen and wait for a response.”

The students also use TimeSlips,or creative group storytelling, founded by American dementia scholar Dr Anne Davis Basting in 2009. Conversations are prompted by a photo or image to elicit a story. It might be partly true, partly made up. It doesn’t matter, says Alicia.

TimeSlips gives everyone in the group the freedom to imagine, rather than the pressure to remember. “Residents become storytellers, and the students find that the level of social interaction and conversation increases during and after the sessions.”

It has enlightened students too. They have found their feelings towards people with dementia have changed. They see the creative sides of individuals come out and their ability to enjoy themselves, rather than just a person with a condition.

There are currently just over 53,500 people with dementia in New Zealand. By 2050, it’s expected the numbers will tip nearly 150,000 – about 2.6 per cent of the population.