| Revista INFAD 2012 |
ISSN EDICIÓN EN PAPEL: 0214-9877 |
| Nº1, Vol. 3, pp. 385-392 | doi: en trámite |
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Reaprender a comunicarse. Intervención en un caso de demencia semántica
Cruz Pérez Lancho / Naiara Castillo Manzanos / Sandra González González . pp. 385-392
Semantic dementia is a form of frontotemporal impairment associated with an initial affectation of the language. It is characterized by a deficit in the knowledge of words meanings and by a pro-gressive loss of mental representation of objects which coexists with a relative preservation of auto-biographical memory and other mental functions. When the disease progresses there is a deterio-ration in the recognition of faces, voices and objects. Finally, this deterioration affects the patient behavioral adjustment, due to frontal affectation.
These patients may benefit from both, relearning the language during the early stages of the dis-ease, and a specific instruction to their families. The particular characteristics of the cognitive impairment make it necessary that intervention does not focus exclusively on training the cognitive deficits.
Semantic dementia symptoms are described in a 52-year-old patient. He gets language stimula-tion for a period of two years during which the relearning of vocabulary is combined with the design of an Augmentative and Alternative Communication System (AACS), allowing the patient and his family to functionally communicate at more advanced stages of the disease.
Keywords: Dependence, semantic dementia, language stimulation, Augmentative and Alternative Communication System.
