Marguerite Mullaney – Providing Individualized Dementia Treatment: Putting Evidence into Action

Outline

INTRODUCTION: GETTING ON THE SAME PAGE

• Neurological changes
• Behavioral changes
• Theories for intervention
• Staging a hypothetical patient
  • Physical changes
  • Cognitive changes

ASSESSMENT

• Logemann approach
• Standardized testing
• Informal assessment
• Measuring the patient’s perspective
• Measuring the caregiver’s perspective
• Sorting the strengths from the weaknesses

TREATMENT: PART 1

• Deciding what to work on
• Application of neuroplasticity concepts
• Hildred Schuell’s hierarchy
• Commercially available products
• Thinking outside the box
• Participant hypothetical examples

TREATMENT: PART 2

• Interactive case studies
  • Interventions: compensatory vs. restorative strategies
  • Cognition-focused interventions
  • Limitations of generalization and long-term maintenance
  • Assistive technology
  • Cognitive stimulation therapy
  • External memory aids
  • Memory-training programs
    • Spaced retrieval
    • Errorless learning
    • Procedural memory stimulation
    • Vanishing cues
    • Didactic approaches
  • Reality orientation
  • Reminiscence therapy
  • Simulated presence therapy
• Develop a POC to address the above examples
• Participant hypothetical examples

DESIGNING TREATMENT

• Case study: complete a comprehensive cognitive/communication exam
• Create an individual treatment approach
  • Case study: patient with SLUMS score of 21/30; Global Deterioration Scale of 3