Dementia May Never Improve, but Many Still Can Learn

A recent test in the United Kingdom demonstrated that the practice of cognitive rehabilitation can help people with dementia preserve the ability to learn, reports the New York Times . Cognitive rehab involves therapists visiting people with dementia at home to learn which everyday activities they have problems with and which abilities they want to retain or improve. During weekly sessions conducted over several months, the therapists organize individual strategies that can help, at least in the early and moderate stages of dementia, showing subjects how to compensate for memory difficulties and to practice new techniques. The U.K. trial and other European initiatives showed that persons with dementia can enhance their ability to perform the tasks they have prioritized, with those improvements possibly persisting over as many as 12 months, even as they lose other cognitive abilities. Admittedly, even effective cognitive rehab has only a modest impact. "We never suggest this can reverse the effects of dementia," notes Linda Clare at the University of Exeter.