Speech and language impairments in dementia

• The number of people with dementia is significantly increasing every year.
• Certain types of dementia share similar speech and language impairments.
• There is not much research in dementia on all four language skills.
• Cognitive training and other preventive approaches may delay the onset of dementia.

The current demographic trend is dramatically changing; particularly the number of older people is rising. This trend of older population causes an increase of aging diseases such as dementia. At present the most frequent type of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, the second most frequent type is vascular dementia, and the third one is dementia with Lewy bodies. These are then followed by Parkinson's disease dementia, frontotemporal dementia/degeneration, and mixed dementia. The purpose of this review study is to explore speech and language disorders of each of the above mentioned dementias and examine their similarities and differences. Furthermore, the authors want to discuss the underlying factors influencing language deterioration in dementia, suggest a few techniques which can assist patients with dementia in communication and emphasize the role of preventive, non-invasive strategies/therapies in this process.The authors used a method of literature review of available sources dealing with different types of dementia and their common symptoms. Furthermore, a method of comparison of different research studies exploring speech and language impairments of the main types of dementia mentioned above and their comparison was applied.

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