Cognitive communication disorders can be a difficulty with any aspect of communication that is affected by disruption of cognition (making sense of the word through understanding, organising, interpreting and storing). Some examples of cognitive processes include: thinking, attention, memory, organization, problem solving/reasoning, executive functions and social skills.

Symptom checklist

-Do you often find that your loved one has difficulty concentrating?

• Staying focused on a single task e.g. reading
• Filtering out what’s going on around them e.g. difficulty talking to someone with background noise
• Difficulty with processing e.g. taking longer to do things than usual or finding it difficult to follow conversation partners when they are talking quickly.

-Do you often find that your loved one has difficulty with memory?

• Short-term e.g. forgetting what you were just about to do or what someone has said to you
• Long-term e.g. important dates, events, someone’s name or where you may have put something

-Do you often find that your loved one has difficulty with planning and problem solving?

• Difficulty planning to complete a task e.g. not knowing the steps of making a cup of tea or difficulty with beginning/finishing a task e.g. needing prompts to complete their activities of daily living.
• Difficulty solving problems on their own e.g. not knowing what to do if something goes wrong
• Difficulty with doing more than one thing at a time e.g. not being able to shift their attention between tasks when you are talking to them

-Do you feel that your loved one sometimes does not understand everyday social cues (e.g.  not able to grasp humour or sarcasm or common expressions)?

-Do you find that they have difficulty with some social communication skills e.g. taking their turn in conversations (usually interrupting others in conversation, fixated on a topic or assumes that the listener has shared knowledge on that topic)?

-Do you find that they may have reduced insight into these difficulties and often don’t realise there is a problem?