Intervención neuropsicológica y del lenguaje en la enfermedad de Alzheimer. Descripción de un caso clínico

Language disorders are one of the commonest manifestations of Alzheimer's disease. Language disorders usually appear following memory affectation and show a typical pattern. Thus at the early phases of the disease speech difficulties can already be observed, even before the onset of any of the clinical manifestations characteristic of the most evident impairment. Lately a growing interest for language disorders in Alzheimer's disease has been observed in scientific publications. The reason is not only that these disorders can be useful for the diagnosis of the disease but also that, if present, they allow to identify subgroups of patients with an early onset of dementia, who could benefit from an intervention in programs of early speech therapy, psychostimulation, etc. In this article we present the clinical case of a 59-years-old patient referred for assessment, treatment and follow-up of a possible diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. From the beginning, the patient showed a quick and progressive impoverishment of his language abilities, together with severe communication difficulties reported by his family, both in family and work circles. A psychostimulation and speech therapy program was applied to the patient in order to maintain his language abilities as long as possible, and to reinforce his general intellectual functions through cognitive stimulation. The patient's evolution was studied through consecutive neuropsychological assessments. Results showed that the typical impairment in language, memory and other cognitive functions persisted. However, the personal psychostimulation and speech therapy program proved to have a positive influence in the disease evolution and in the emotional support perceived by the patient's family.