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When people have this disease, the occipital lobe of the brain is damaged. So that means that not only do they have trouble with visual integration, understanding the visual world around them and integrating that information into their brain and making sense out of it, it also means that they have an inability to use their peripheral vision.
So a person with Alzheimer's disease doesn't understand what's going on to the left or the right because remember, they don't have the ability to abstractly think. So if it's not right in front of them, it never happened, those people aren't there, nothing is going on.
So, for them, their Alzheimer's window is because they speak, they live in a downward gaze, they rarely look up, it's the distance of about six to eight feet in front of them, and it's a distance about as wide as their body that would not get into peripheral vision. And that's what you've got to work with.
So if you're assisting them with feeding, you're going to want to directly face them. If you're going to change their clothes or assist them in putting on a jacket, you're going to want to make sure that you're doing things right in front of them, so that they've got you in their vision. If you approach them from the left or the right and begin doing something to them, you're going to be okay with being hit or scratched or yelled at because they honestly don't know you're there.
