Communication and dementia

Communication can be a big challenge for people living with dementia. As the journey of dementia progresses, people can find it more and more difficult to express themselves clearly, and to understand what others say. But as we all know, there’s much more to communication than just words. As a Champion for Dementia and writer, Kate De Goldi knows first hand the importance of communication, and the ability to be able to express our thoughts and feelings to the people we care about.In this episode, we talk dementia and communication with Alison Wray, Research Professor of Language and Communication at Cardiff University. Alison’s research into dementia communication focuses on understanding the causes of disrupted communication - not just as a result of the underlying damage to the brain, but also what happens to the norms of social interaction and how this is affected by the cognitive disruptions caused by dementia.Check out Alison's new book, Why Dementia Makes Communication Difficult.