"They're just going to get worse anyway": perspectives on rehabilitation for nursing home residents with dementia.
In recent years, researchers have provided data to show that individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) can learn new information and functional behaviors, despite significant declarative memory deficits. However, clinicians in long-term care frequently have difficulty justifying and providing needed services to persons with Alzheimer's disease in LTC settings. In this paper, implicit learning will be discussed as a theoretical rationale to support rehabilitation along with practical issues related to the provision of speech-language pathology services for residents with Alzheimer's disease in LTC settings.


OBJECTIVE
After reading this article, learners will be able to: (1) Define implicit learning; (2) discuss evidence for implicit learning in Alzheimer's disease; (3) describe how to capitalize on implicit learning during rehabilitation for individuals with Alzheimer's disease; (4) explain how to justify and provide interventions for individuals with Alzheimer's disease in LTC settings.
Hopper
Tammy L
TL
Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada T6G 2G4. tammy.hopper@ualberta.ca
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007808:Language Therapy; D007858:Learning; D008568:Memory; D009735:Nursing Homes; D013070:Speech Therapy