People with dementia often develop restless behaviours, such as pacing up and down, wandering out of the home and agitated fidgeting.
Challenging behaviour is a catch-all term that, in the context of dementia, includes one or combinations of shouting, wandering, biting, throwing objects, repetitive talking, destroying personal possessions and other objects, agitation and general anger, physical attacks on others, and waking others at night.
This is known as sundowning and these behaviour changes can become worse after a move or a change in routine. The person with dementia may become more demanding, restless, upset, suspicious, disoriented and even see, hear or believe things that aren't real, especially at night.
Behavioral disturbances in dementia are often globally described as “agitation” including verbal and physical aggression, wandering, and hoarding.
The most common disruptive behaviour disorders include oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These three behavioural disorders share some common symptoms, so diagnosis can be difficult and time consuming.
Examples of challenging behaviour include: Withdrawn behaviours such as shyness, rocking, staring, anxiety, school phobia, truancy, social isolation or hand flapping. Disruptive behaviours such as being out-of-seat, calling out in class, tantrums, swearing, screaming or refusing to follow instructions.
Although a person's own experience of living with dementia varies, as does their needs for care and support, common everyday challenges for people with dementia include washing, getting dressed, eating and bathing. Dementia is a progressive condition.
Examples of verbal behaviours that challenge include: • Shouting • Arguing • Screaming • Abuse, including use of offensive language • Threatening • Use of inappropriate terms, such as those that are sexist or racist • Name-calling.
Often, challenging behavior may be the result of a combination of environmental factors. WE REACT IN PART BASED ON HOW WE FEEL AND HOW WE PERCEIVE THE SITUATION. The challenging response is adaptive/logical for the person. The "problem" is jointly-generated and responsibility for the problem is shared mutually.
Examples of disruptive behaviours include temper tantrums, interrupting others, impulsiveness with little regard for safety or consequences, aggressiveness, or other socially inappropriate acts. In younger children, some disruptive behaviours are considered developmentally normal if they occur some of the time.
All that we can see and deal with is a person's behavior. There are four major behavioral styles: analytical, amiable, driver and expressive.
Examples of human behavior include conflict, communication, cooperation, creativity, play, social interaction, tradition, and work.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
The five-minute cognitive test (FCT) was designed to capture deficits in five domains of cognitive abilities, including episodic memory, language fluency, time orientation, visuospatial function, and executive function.
If they're alert enough, they'll realize they made a mistake and feel bad about it. Even if they don't understand their error, correcting them may embarrass or be otherwise unpleasant for them. Don't Argue With the Person: It's never a good idea to argue with a person who has dementia.
Communicate clearly and calmly. Use short, simple sentences. Don't talk to the person as you would to a child – be patient and have respect for them. Try to communicate with the person in a conversational way, rather than asking question after question which may feel quite tiring or intimidating.