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Understand How Parkinson’ s Impacts Communication
Parkinson’ s symptoms can impact how your loved one communicates, from how loudly they speak to how quickly they process what they’ re hearing. It can also decrease nonverbal communication cues, such as facial expressions and gestures, which are vital forms of emotional communication. These and other motor and non-motor symptoms can create or exacerbate communication challenges.
Motor Symptoms
Stiffness and slowness of facial muscles, or facial“ masking,” may decrease both facial and emotional expression, including smiling. This can be interpreted as lack of interest, upset or depression.
Slower, smaller movements may limit body language, like gestures and nonverbal cues, which can impede full expression.
Stooped posture, or the head tilting forward, can interfere with eye contact and vocal volume.
Dyskinesia, or involuntary movements, increase with stress or excitement, so certain conversation or situations may heighten these symptoms.
Non-Motor Symptoms
Changes in volume and clarity of voice— like a softer voice, monotone speech, slurred words or mumbling— can relay less emotion.
Cognitive changes can slow processing and response or cause difficulty finding words or following conversation.
Mood changes like depression or apathy may blunt the ability to express emotions.
Parkinson’ s itself can decrease the ability to interpret others’ emotions and social cues.
Fatigue can slow processing, decrease attention or make harder conversations even more difficult.
Pseudobulbar affect, or trouble regulating emotions, may lead to involuntary laughter or crying that is out of proportion to what a person feels or is inconsistent with the situation( like laughing at a funeral despite feeling sad).
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