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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting
Published on: June 6, 2020
Self-directed speech and dialogue in dementia care: the potential of co-participants' contributions
Camilla Lindholm1, Camilla Wide2
1a Department of Finnish Language, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies , University of Helsinki , Helsinki , Finland.
Purpose:
Dementia is associated with an ongoing decline in language function, involving both language production and comprehension. Maintaining a conversation with persons with dementia may be challenging. In this study, we investigate how the contributions of professional caregivers affect the linguistic contributions of the speaker with dementia.
Methods:
This is a conversation analytic case study of one individual with dementia. The data are drawn from a five-hour video corpus collected at a Swedish speaking care facility in Finland.
Results:
In comparing self-directed speech and dialogue, the results show how professional caregivers can induce change in the linguistic and interactional behaviors of a person with dementia.
Conclusions:
Introducing an interactional perspective to self-directed speech and dialogue, this study provides new insights into the notion of a "good conversation" in dementia care.
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