What is dementia?
When someone has dementia, they have a disease of the brain which damages parts of it and stops those parts working like they should. Dementia changes the way people think, feel and act.
Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, lewy body disease and vascular dementia are all types or causes of dementia.
Do you know the names of any others?
Each of these types of dementia affects the brain in different ways.
What does dementia do?
This is Heather’s House . Some of the people living there have dementia of different kinds. How can you tell? Have a look around and see if you can find all the clues.
Has anyone ever told you that you are unique? Well, you are! No one else in the world is exactly the same as you. Everyone is unique and our brains are unique too. This means that each person who gets dementia is affected by it in their own way.
But there are some things that many people with dementia have in common. Families often notice that when a person has dementia they might:
Feel alone
Sometimes when we feel alone we might spend more time on our own
Have trouble driving
Sometimes it can affect some people and they may not be able to drive anymore.
The kinds of changes we notice depend on the type of dementia a person has. They depend on which parts of the brain have been damaged.