Majorly found in adults particularly elders, Dementia also affects children. Children with dementia show personality changes and unusual or distressing behavior. Further, it leads to memory loss; affects ability to think clearly, creates difficulty in understanding words and recognizing people.
Causes
In children it may result due to several factors like - infection, poisoning, lack of some nutrients, brain injury etc. Also, some unique disorders can also cause dementia. In some cases dementia arises due to genetic factors and often metabolic disorders also that affect brain. In pregnant mothers, insufficient folic acid i.e. Vitamin B9 can also cause underdeveloped infant brain cells resulting in dementia later in child’s life.
Symptoms
The commonest symptom of dementia is memory loss. But just memory loss by itself does not mean that a child has dementia. Other accompanying symptoms are personality and behavior changes, clumsiness, stumbling, or slow learning. Children may also develop mental impairment, progressive loss of motor skills and sight, and seizures. The child may look healthy from outside but, on the inside, their brain is not functioning appropriately.
Problems Faced By Children Afflicted With Dementia
Dementia affects people differently. Children with dementia have significantly impaired intellectual performance and it interferes with their normal activities. Due to increasing forgetfulness, the child may not be able to follow directions and instructions. A child may lose his ability maintain emotional control, and may experience problems such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations etc. He may repeat the same story over and over, again and ask same questions many times. Also they face difficulty in communicating. He may face difficulty in finding right words or completing sentences. They also have problems with thinking and recognizing people, and will sometimes forget what things are used for.
Coping Dementia In Children
Most importantly parents must always be in contact in with the child and must interact with him frequently. It will give the child an opportunity to ask questions and express his feelings, fear and experiences. Adults around kids affected with dementia must always remember that the child may not be able to take too much information download at one time and so you must always try to keep it simple and respond to their questions at their level.Be in strong coordination with the child’s teacher or school counselor. Let them know about dementia and that child suffering from it requires specialized attention. Visit school from time to time to check if the child has experienced any problems. Encourage learning about dementia in the school environment and with the child’s friends and peer groups.
