Dementia & Language

Now that I am in an aged care facility for my rotation, I am unfazed by elderly people with dementia who have lost the ability to speak intelligibly. Yes, in their mind they might think they are speaking fluently but in actual fact, their words are incomprehensible.

Today, one the of OT students talked about a difficult case. He had to do a mental assessment (much like a quiz, really) on this little old lady with dementia. This lady was bilingual in both Spanish and English - with the latter being her second language. As her dementia progresses, she begins to lose the ability to speak in English. When I first heard about this, I had no reaction whatsoever. But now that I am in my room and begin to reflect on my day, I start to realise that this is absolutely fascinating!

If I were to develop dementia (touch wood), which language will I 'lose' first? I was practically brought up in a bilingual environment - with Mimmy speaking in Hokkien and Daddy in English. Then I went on to pick up Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese around the age of 6, then Malay at the age of 7. Will I start to 'lose' Malay first just because I learnt it when I was much older? But, I was more proficient in Malay than Mandarin Chinese or Cantonese.

Questions... questions...