Q: How is Alzheimer's disease different from dementia?

A: What is Alzheimer's and related dementia?
Dementia is a loss of intellectual functions (such as thinking, remembering and reasoning) that is severe enough to interfere with a person's everyday life. Symptoms may include short-term memory loss, inability to think problems through or complete tasks, confusion, difficulty concentrating, and behavior changes. Some disorders that can cause dementia include: Alzheimer's disease; Vascular disease; Lewy Body dementia; Huntington's disease; Pick's disease; Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Parkinson's disease. Dementia is not a part of normal aging. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting an estimated 5.3 million Americans, Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease that attacks the brain and results in impaired memory, thinking and behavior.
-Alzheimer's & Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin

Q: Can anyone use arts with people living with memory loss? Or is it just for artists?

A: 
In Glazner's new book Dementia Arts: Celebrating Creativity in Elder Care, he emphasizes simple poetry techniques and how they can be combined with dance, exercise, music, storytelling, and visual art to facilitate a new and positive way of communicating with people in all stages of dementia.

Seasoned with delightful and touching anecdotes about using poetry as a caregiver, both in groups and one-on-one. Professional and family caregivers will discover the joy in poetry and the arts, and how easily and fully they can be employed to achieve positive results and inspire truly meaningful connections.

Exceptionally unique and easy to implement, Dementia Arts seeks to entertain, inspire, guide, and help family caregivers, as well as professionals in assisted living, long-term care, and adult day who want to support and enhance the lives of elders. Here is the recipe to communication success.