By NCCDP — advancing person-centered dementia care through education and certification.
People and families don’t come to dementia with textbook language; they come with lived changes: “Mom is repeating herself,” “Dad got lost on the way home,” or “I’m missing appointments and it’s not like me.” Recognizing patterns early supports a respectful, thorough evaluation and care plan aligned with the person’s values, culture, and routines. Dementia is a syndrome—a set of cognitive and functional changes from multiple possible causes; Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause, but not the only one. Dementia is not a normal part of aging.
What counts as an “early sign”?
Early signs vary across people and causes. Below are commonly reported patterns (not diagnoses). Compare changes to the person’s own lifelong baseline.
- Memory changes that disrupt daily life: Repeating questions, misplacing items and not retracing steps, missing appointments despite accustomed tools/routines. Typical aging: an occasional lapse you later recall.
- Changes in planning, organization, or problem-solving: Increasing difficulty following multi-step tasks (paying bills, recipes, medication schedules).
- Getting lost or visuospatial changes: Trouble judging distances, navigating familiar routes, or interpreting visual cues.
- Language and communication shifts: Word-finding pauses that impair flow, losing a conversation thread, substituting less specific words more often (“that thing”). Typical aging: the occasional “tip-of-the-tongue” word.
- Judgment and decision-making changes: Uncharacteristic money mistakes, susceptibility to scams, or safety oversights (stove, driving).
- Mood, personality, or motivation changes: New anxiety, apathy, irritability, or social withdrawal that’s out of character and persistent.
- Attention and multitasking difficulty: Increasing distractibility, difficulty dividing attention across tasks.
These domains mirror clinical frameworks used to evaluate neurocognitive disorders (attention, executive function, learning/memory, language, perceptual–motor, and social cognition).
“Early signs of Alzheimer’s” vs. “early signs of dementia”
Alzheimer’s disease often begins with episodic memory changes—learning and recalling new information—followed by broader cognitive and functional changes over time. Dementia is the umbrella term for cognitive decline that interferes with everyday life from many causes (Alzheimer’s, vascular, Lewy body, frontotemporal, mixed etiologies). Early patterns can differ by cause (e.g., visuospatial changes and fluctuations in Lewy body; behavioral or language changes in some frontotemporal syndromes).
What to do if you notice these changes
- Start with primary care: Bring concrete examples and timelines. Ask for screening and, if indicated, referral for neurocognitive evaluation. Many reversible or treatable contributors can mimic or worsen symptoms (hearing/vision loss, sleep disorders, depression, thyroid/B-12 issues, medications, infections). Early workups look for both cause and contributors.
- Plan early, plan together: Clarify preferences, safety, transportation, work/role adaptations, and legal/financial planning while the person can lead decisions. Evidence-based education helps families distinguish typical aging from concerning change.
- Build a supportive routine: Person-centered communication, simplified steps, environmental cues, and respectful redirection reduce distress and sustain autonomy. For common public-facing examples to discuss with clinicians, see the Alzheimer’s Association’s resources on early warning signs.
How NCCDP can help
NCCDP equips organizations and professionals with practical, person-centered training that turns insight into everyday care.
- Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP): Foundational, evidence-informed best practices for all roles across care settings.
- Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Care (ADDC) Seminar: Communication, behavior supports, safety, and family partnership strategies you can apply immediately.
- Memory Care Excellence Network (MCEN): An organization-wide framework aligning people, processes, and outcomes, with a Seal of Excellence to demonstrate standards reached across your community.
Key takeaways for teams
- Notice patterns over time relative to the person’s lifelong baseline.
- Differentiate typical aging from function-impacting changes.
- Escalate to medical evaluation early; screen for reversible contributors.
- Equip staff with person-centered skills to reduce distress and support autonomy.
References:
Alzheimer’s Association. (n.d.). 10 early signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia. https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/10_signs
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, August 14). Signs and symptoms of dementia. https://www.cdc.gov/alzheimers-dementia/signs-symptoms/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, August 15). About Alzheimer’s disease. https://www.cdc.gov/alzheimers-dementia/about/alzheimers.html
National Institute on Aging. (2022, October 18). What are the signs of Alzheimer’s disease? https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-symptoms-and-diagnosis/what-are-signs-alzheimers-disease
National Institute on Aging. (n.d.). Age-related forgetfulness or signs of dementia? https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/memory-loss-and-forgetfulness/age-related-forgetfulness-or-signs-dementia
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Dementia: Key facts. https://www.who.int/health-topics/dementia
Wolfe, N., & Albert, M. (2018). Application of the DSM-5 criteria for major neurocognitive disorder to MCI patients with small vessel disease. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5921186/
Alzheimer’s Association. (2025). 2025 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12040760/
