How to Talk to Someone With Alzheimer’s

Today, we bring you two stories in our special report on the international Alzheimer's conference in Chicago. Come back tomorrow for more news.

Talking to men and women with Alzheimer’s disease as though they are children—“We need to take our bath now” or “Honey, we need to put on our jacket”—often provokes them to resist care and even behave disruptively, according to a new study.

“People tend to use ‘elderspeak’ almost intuitively because they think of these adults as less competent, even childlike,” says Kristine Williams, one of the researchers at the University of Kansas who conducted the study on patients in three Kansas nursing homes. The results were reported today at the Alzheimer’s Association’s international conference in Chicago.  

Elderspeak, Williams says, is defined as talking in a high-pitched, singsong voice, and using collective pronouns and overly familiar terms of endearment. “This kind of language has a negative effect because it makes these adults feel less competent, less respected,” she says. “The patients may not be able to tell us that, but that’s clearly what they showed us through their behavior.”  

Researchers videotaped the interactions of 20 people with moderate Alzheimer’s and their caregivers in nursing homes during activities such as dressing or brushing their teeth. They found that when the staff used elderspeak, the men or women they were dealing with tended to react negatively more often than when they were addressed in a normal adult manner.

The researchers devised a scale for measuring the occurrence and the intensity of the resistant behavior, which included pulling away, grabbing objects, saying “no,” and kicking and hitting. When the staff used baby talk, the probability of negative behavior on the part of the resident was 55, double what it was when they spoke normally. This kind of resistant behavior, the researchers say, increases stress on the nursing staff and makes it harder to provide good care.

"Elderspeak is very common in nursing homes, and this study seems to show that if we reduce it, we’ll see a difference in the residents’ behavior,” Williams says. "The study suggests there’s an association between the staff’s style of communication and how the residents respond.”

Should family caregivers be wary of elderspeak as well?

"If a caregiver is dealing with a family member, then endearments and familiarity are probably fine, very natural,” says Williams. "But it might be better for even family members to avoid baby talk.”

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