ADvanced ALzheimer Disease and Effects of Protologic and LAnguage Rehabilitation Tools in Nursing Home (ADALPA)

Background:

During Alzheimer's disease when cognitive disorders become too severe, language and communication are no longer present and/or mobilizable, and as a consequence there is a frequent discontinuation of Care and morever speech therapy rehabilitation. On this very specific subject of return to communication of patients suffering from very advanced Alzheimer's disease with cessation of communication, no data is currently avalable in the scientific literature to identify and define a "threshold for return to communication".

Objectives :

This study aims at obtaining a return to communication verbally (V) or non-verbally (NV), of patients living in nursing home suffering from severe neurocognitive disorders during Alzheimer disease using evaluation grids of V and NV communication.

Secondary objectives are the evaluation of recovery of a relationship with objects, quality of relashionship between patients and caregivers and family members , reduction in behavioral signs ( NPI-ES, EPADE survey), improved nutrition.

Method :

9 patients over 60 years old with major neurocognitive disorders at an advanced stage, presenting behavioral disorders, no longer communicating, interacting and having little or no relationship with objects, with stereotyped behavior or apathy living in 3 nursing home will be recruted during 36 months.

Each patient will receive a maximum of 34 weeks of Protologic and LAnguage adaptation rehabilitation by a speech therapist at a rate of one or two speech therapy sessions per week, for a total of 30 sessions maximum. All sessions are filmed and at posteriori analysed with the help of ELAN© software.

Attended results : The benefits of this research will be to objectivize an improvement in the cognitive state of patients, with a possible return to communication. Moreover, this study will provide a better understanding of neurocognitive disorders and their evolution after a Non-Pharmacological Intervention. The existence of improvements will also enable a change in the way caregivers and relatives look at these patients at an advanced stage, especially as at present, follow-up is generally discontinued as soon as language and communication are no longer present and can not be mobilized.