A Common Language for Dementia using the Senior GEMS

In the article: "DEMENTIA - Keep Responses Positive" published in the Fall 2023 issue of GO Christian Magazine, KB McGee, SLP describes the need for a Common / Standard Language for Dementia and suggests Teepa Snow's GEMS® as the perfect tool.   There is currently no standard language for dementia.  

 

The GEMS® has been used successfully for over 20 years with Senior Helpers using the Senior GEMS (created with Teepa Snow) for their Caregiver training.  There are hundreds of YouTube videos, Power Point Workshops and free Senior GEMS® training available.  When using the GEMS® to communicate, care partners stay positive and support the skills that are remaining.  Most importantly, the Senior GEMS® provides Caregivers with strategies to use and strategies to avoid at all six levels of cognitive function to create meaningful days and moments of joy for the person living with dementia / brain failure.

 

With a common language for dementia, healthcare professionals and Caregivers can communicate using strategies that offer solutions.  The GEMS® use to establish a common vocabulary for dementia.  There are several, well-known assessment tools; however, none of them provide strategies to use and strategies to avoid except the GEMS®.   The following is ayou chart that compares the Senior GEMS® with the:

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- Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) - the tool I started using in the early 1990's

- Functional Assessment Stages (FAST)

- Allen Scale of Cognitive Level & Modes - the scale used as a foundation for Teepa Snow's GEMS®

- Alzheimer's Association Rating Scale 

- World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (DSM V)

- Global Assessment of Function (GAF)

- Rio Los Amigos Scale (RLA)

- Minimum Data Set (MDS)

- Developmental Age Comparisons (DAC)

 

When the Caregiver Team is able to use a common language, communication is possible.  At one point, I was working with another SLP in a rehabilitation center.  I used the Global Deterioration Scale that measures the levels of dementia from 1 to 7; she used the Allen Scale of Cognitive Levels that measure the levels of dementia from 6 to 1.   To make things easier for everyone, we both used the Senior GEMS® when communicating with each other and with the nurses, CNAs, doctors and family members. 

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The Senior GEMS® is the only staging mechanism that provides characteristics, strategies to use and strategies to avoid at each level of dementia. 

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*MCI = Mild Cognitive Impairment