| Communication - Process by
which information and feelings are exchanged among individuals through
common symbols, signs, or behaviors. - Verbal communication:
Involves a complex feedback loop of organizing, sending, receiving,
decoding, and responding to messages. (We take complexity for
granted.)
- Non-verbal communication:
Consists of cues, gestures, and body language. Only 7% of message
is attributed to words used, the rest is through non-verbal messages we
send.
Persons with dementia retain non-verbal communication skills long into the disease, much longer than verbal, so body language (of both the person with dementia and the caregiver) becomes very important, the primary mode of communication. |