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My mother, 91, has early stage dementia. She is mean and nasty some of the time and seems frustrated. I have read that with dementia, the short-memory is affected first. So I tried talking to my mother about her past life. On that conversation that lasted 24 minutes on the phone, her recall was amazing. She remembered events in chronological order, remembered how old she was at the time, remembered all the aunts and uncles names, etc. It was one of the best conversations we have had in a long time. I will initiate more of the early in life conversations with her.

This seems amazing to you, but it is common -- the short term memory goes first and the long-term is retained for a long time (but sometimes that also is impacted depending on what type of dementia a person has). Many people with dementia can't remember what they did 2 minutes ago but can remember very complex routines they did when they were employed. My Mom is 97 and has moderate dementia. She still remembers a lot of detail accurately from early on in her life. "Remeniscing" is a great way to pass the time with someone like out Moms.
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That is a great tip, thanks for sharing it!
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