Language and visuospatial deficits

Language and visuospatial defects appear as Alzheimer's disease progresses:

• language deficits:
  • appear initially and may mask cognitive impairment
  • speech is often empty of meaning and they may have some difficulty finding words
  • occasionally patients may be aphasic
• visuospatial deficits:
  • there may be an impairment of topographical memory and patients may become disoriented and get lost easily
  • they may have problems with dressing - dressing dyspraxia
  • occasionally patients may have a more focal onset of disease involving a breakdown of visual processing resulting in agnosias or rarely, Balint's syndrome.

Reference:

• (1) Rossor, M. (1993). Alzheimer’s Disease. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 307(6907), 779–782. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29721161