This short course, aimed at health and social care practitioners or those caring for a loved one with dementia, will consider the importance of communication and how to help someone who is progressively losing their ability to communicate. Explore some of the techniques you can use to encourage the person you’re looking after to communicate – including through body language and physical contact. View tips on how to respond to someone who is struggling to express themselves and how to cope with the frustration this can cause.
Learning outcomes
You will understand that people living with dementia progressively lose their ability to communicate
For people with dementia, problems with communication can affect the care and support they receive. You will understand how best you can include people with dementia in your care plans and express their needs and preferences.
It is understandable that losing the ability to communicate with ease, or all together, will be frustrating and upsetting for both the person who has dementia and the person who is caring for them. This course offers tips and techniques for finding new ways to communicate and cope with negative emotions.
You will be informed about how to prevent isolation and loss of connection from loved ones
Advantages of this course
Imagine not being able to understand the conversations around you, respond to questions, or not being understood by your friends or family. It must be bewildering, frightening, and isolating. It is vitally important, therefore, for carers to find alternative ways to communicate with people living with dementia and allow them to express themselves in non-verbal ways. This course will help you understand the importance of memory and conversation, mindfulness and empathy, and how to live in the moment.
A person with dementia may have trouble finding the right word, they may repeat words, or become 'stuck' on certain sounds. They are also likely to have other sensory impairments which can make it hard to communicate. Upon completion of this short course, you will understand the affect dementia can have on communication and language.
You will consider some of the useful aids to communication, such as talking mats, and the CQC guidelines on effective communication in health and social care
Website and video resources are utilised to explain person-centred care for someone with dementia
There is also suggested extended reading that gives both practical information and links to websites to expand knowledge
