Course Description:

While patients with dementia pose unique challenges to rehabilitation professionals, the potential benefits from quality therapy is astounding. Having a strong foundational understanding of the available strengths to these patients is crucial in developing a solid treatment plan. These patients present with deficits in attention, judgment, memory, communication, and language but also have several functions that remain intact through the disease. It is commonly thought that patients with dementia cannot benefit from rehabilitation services because of behaviors, lack of communication, or difficulties in learning. However, the current literature demonstrates that this is not case. Skilled rehabilitation is an integral part of an older adult’s return to the optimal functional level of independence following an injury or illness. Patients with dementia benefit as much from rehabilitation as individuals without dementia, but it is up to us as the rehabilitation professionals to understand how to exploit the strengths and abilities of these individuals to help meet their goals. This course will provide a better understanding of cognitive aging through discussion on which parts of cognition are the strongest throughout the progression of dementia and how to use these abilities to promote a successful episode of care. Barriers to treatment will be discussed along with best practice and evidence-based approaches to overcome these challenges to improve functional outcomes for these patients. The different types of dementia will be discussed highlighting effective strategies to maximize patient outcomes. Understanding the use of a strength-based approach will be emphasized to help you and your staff better treat this growing group of challenging patients.