Alyson Kuhn is co-author of the book I hear you: Talking and listening to people with Alzheimers. In a previous post Alyson said: “My goal was always to help my mother feel in charge.” In it, Alyson talks about learning to “kuhncierge” to care for her mom.

In this post, Alyson talks about communications. It is the most overlooked and neglected aspect of caring for people with dementia. For some caregivers, communicating is intuitive; for others, it’s like learning a foreign language. It’s a skill we can all polish—and apply to everyone we care about. Alyson provides three practical pointers.