Question about appts

tree74

My father was officially diagnosed with dementia this year but has been in the decline for 2 years. One of the things the neurologist suggested was speech therapy for his cognitive issues. He was adamant against going to begin with but has been going for 3 months now. He is now not wanting to go and there isn't anyone to take him and encourage him to go. The only family in town works during the day . (We had a driving evaluation and he is fine to drive) He is in denial that there isn't anything wrong with him. I have had to take over on his finances because he isn't cognitively able anymore but for most everything else he is doing so so on taking care of himself. How can we encourage and keep him going when he is so adamant about quitting? I am just at a loss. He had a very stubborn personality before he developed dementia. I just don't know how to help him.

M1

Welcome to the forum. I don't know that there's any data showing that speech therapy slows disease progression, so if he doesn't want to go I'd probably give in on this one. Look up anosognosia-he's not in denial, he truly can't appreciate that anything is wrong.

tree74

Thank you. I will look up the anosognosia.

MP8

This is from our experience (anecdotal) and is offered for what it's worth:

My mother has had speech therapy for several months. Is it helping? Who knows? The problem is that she is not going to make progress back to normal - and we don't know how much she would have declined if she didn't have the therapy.

In her case, she thinks the therapy is similar to children's activities (negative) but she enjoys the personal attention (positive). I don't notice improvement but it's possible that it is preventing a more rapid decline.

Emily 123

Hi,

Good points made. It does sound like it will be hard to get him to appointments if he's reluctant. This disease is a constant barrage of picking what to let go of, and finding work-arounds for things that need done. I would say let this go. My mom is very stubborn too, and some things just aren't worth it.