Language issues

@JDancer

Many folks refer to this as difficulty with word finding. My mom, who is not diagnosed— yet— is increasingly having glitches with word finding. In her case, it is almost always a noun. Conversations with her are challenging at times because she also has ADHD which causes her to segue into new topics mid-stream when something pops into her head. She's always done that, but now the convos are peppered with "thing" and pronouns rather than names. Sometimes I have to ask her point blank "Who are we talking about now?" She also does that think your husband did describing something when they blank of a word. My niece called me last month alarmed after a visit to tell me mom had asked her to get "kitchen papers" out of the pantry. She had no idea. I guessed paper towels— correctly, I might add. I've been playing this weird game of "Mad Libs" with mom longer than she has.

Dad had a lot of odd speech quirks. He was prone to malapropism prior to dementia. He once sent me to the store with a request to buy "Black & Decker Marmalade" when he meant "Crosse & Blackwell". He also invented words when something was on the tip of his tongue. One I found particularly amusing was "shin-backs" in place of calves. We still use that one some 40 years on. He also spoke in scripts in the middle stages. Not only did he retell the same, often cringey, story, he told it word-for-word.

In the middle stages of dementia, dad also had issues with word finding. His substitutions were generally a code-switch to a more formal or elevated term. I recall once arriving at rehab for a care meeting for dad not long after his tentative diagnosis. Upon entering the building, I could hear him roaring at the social worker "By whose authority am I incarcerated in this place?"

Dad's use of language was unusual for dementia. He remained conversational until the end. Hours before he died, he was being assessed by an SLP for swallowing issues as he'd lost a considerable amount of weight. I'd brough him Chik-Fil-A for lunch which she used to challenge is swallowing. While he ate, he flirted with her and told me all about a visit with my sister earlier. She wrapped up and we went into the hall to talk. The SLP was shocked at how poor his ability to swallow was in contrast to his speech in telling me about my sister's visit. Imagine her surprise when I told her my sister had died in 1994.

HB

I think professionals call it "expressive aphasia." My mother was frustrated in her last year or so because she knew what she wanted to say but couldn't find the words.

My partner is starting to struggle with this. Sometimes she'll substitute a word and not even be aware she's doing it, other times she'll pause and think really hard and come up with a word that is not the one she wanted. And in the next moment, we're playing this license plate game* we've played for years and she still understands some pretty sophisticated words, even if she can't define them or come up with them on her own.

*license plate has 3 letters and we find words for each — RPH = retirees putter happily. The sillier the better.

I love the description of the speech that has no content. That's a great way to put it!