Abstract
Functional communication is crucial for independent and efficient communicative behavior in response to every day activities. In the course of dementia progression, cognitive losses may impair these abilities. For this reason, functional communication assessment should be part of a formal assessment to quantify and qualify the impact of deficiency on patients’ lives.ObjectiveTo compare functional communication abilities in fronto-temporal lobar degeneration (FLTD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).MethodsSix AD patients (mean age: 82.50±2.66 years; mean education: 5.67±3.61 years), and eight FTLD patients (mean age: 57.13±9.63 years; mean education: 10.86±6.91 years) had their close relatives answer the Functional Assessment of Communication Skills for Adults (Asha-facs) . Statistical analyses correlated the performance on each of the Asha-facs domains (social communication, communication of basic needs; reading, writing, number concept and daily planning) between both groups.ResultsAnalyses showed that functional communication was similar for AD and FTLD patients. Only two items had statistical difference, namely ‘Comprehension of inference’ (AD 6.7±1.33; FTLD 2.43±2.30, p=0.017) and ‘capacity to make basic money transactions’ (AD 2.17±2.04; FTLD 4.00±0.90, p=0.044). Comparison among the four domains’ mean scores revealed no significant difference.ConclusionThe Asha-facs is a useful instrument to characterize functional communication abilities in both FTLD and AD. Nevertheless, the analysis presented for this sample showed that the Asha-facs could not discriminate which aspects of the FTLD and AD differed.
Highlights
Functional communication is crucial for independent and efficient communicative behavior in response to every day activities
It is known that difficulty in communicating is understood as deterioration in functionality, which leads to increased dependence
This becomes a very important issue when we address functionality in dementia diagnosis
Summary
Abstract – Functional communication is crucial for independent and efficient communicative behavior in response to every day activities. Comparar as habilidades funcionais de comunicação em pacientes com degeneração lobar fronto-temporal (DLFT) e doença de Alzheimer (DA). Conclusão: O instrumento Asha-facs mostrou-se útil na caracterização das habilidades funcionais e comunicação para pacientes com DA e com DLFT. Functional communication is the ability to receive or convey a message as well as to communicate effectively and independently in a natural environment regardless of the mode of communication.[1] This definition embraces an integrated concept of communication rather than isolated processes. Communication may be impaired from the first stage of dementia.[3,4,5,6] speech and language evaluation should assess the ability to communicate in different situations, independently of speech, language or cognitive impairment. This assessment should consider environmental modifications, use of hearing aids, time needed to communicate and behaviors that may interfere with communicative ability in an ecological situation
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