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Jellycat

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Lost a loved one
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I’ve seen some old posts on cognitive change, not FTD so much as mild changes in thought processes and concentration. I'm hoping those of you with experience of cognitive changes and communication can help me out.

In the early days of my mum's diagnosis her cognitive changes showed up in things like twisting numbers around when copying them down, missing words out of sentences, reduced concentration. As her speech went and we moved into assistive technology, spelling and finding words were the difficult bit. We noticed these things but they didn’t stop her getting her message out. Now she is trying to make the move to using a switch and it is proving impossible, no matter that she is trying hard and being very determined. Speech therapist says she likely won't be able to do it. Seems she understands how it works but she cannot execute the function. :(

My heart is breaking for her as we lose speech again. Most of the time I just ask closed questions and she turns her head for no and keeps still for yes. This is ok so long as I make a good guess about what she wants and keep patient about the time it takes to compute her answer but it’s no good for expressing any of her own thoughts and feelings. She is frustrated on that score. We are on the waiting list for referral to a specialist unit for some help but in the meantime has anyone in the forum found another way to communicate? Either high tech or low tech?
 
Can she use her hands/fingers? If so the speak it program for the iPad or iPhone is a great way to communicate. There are also programs for that are similar. You type I the words and the program speaks for her. Take care, Cathy
 
If you do an internet search on cognitive changes in ALS you'll find a wealth of information
 
Thanks Cathy and Katie for your replies. She can't use her hands much anymore. That's how we've come to here. She was able to use an ipad which she got great value out of for internet and email but her touch isn't strong enough to activate it anymore. Her speech device has a touch screen but she can no longer reach around the screen. She is still trying to learn to use it with the switch but talking to the speech therapist today, she is going to call a halt when we see her on Tuesday. My mum has a little functional use in a couple of fingers but not much strength. She can stare but not do any blinking on demand and at the moment she can move her head from side to side. Thanks Katie for the tip on the internet, I did start there before I decided to come to the horses' mouth, so to speak.
 
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