Do people with dementia become more child-like as the disease progresses?

[Chasstev365]

Trump has always been a man-child, but it seems that it's getting much worse.

[BannonsLiver]

1. It's more of a loss of inhibitions in the beginning.

Which could explain his recent behavior.

[RockRaven]

2. Some do, in some manners.

Some can also become more vicious, which is often considered an unchildlike characteristic.

[pandr32]

3. My mother did.

She thought she still lived with her parents and needed to call them to tell them where she was. She had a doll she kept by her side and talked to it all the time. No way could she grasp that I was her daughter, but she loved stories and songs. I got to enjoy the child within. As an adult mother she could be rather cold so it was a huge change.
My grandmother had dementia as well. She also became rather child-like, but both women had anger bouts in the earlier stages.
How would we know with Trump?

[multigraincracker]

4. I might be on my way. I spend half my day looking for my phone.

[WiVoter]

5. I Notice He Uses a Childlike Voice And Tilts His Head As He Speaks

He also has (what he thinks) is a "tough guy" voice. I notice that Colbert uses it sometimes. Just a few things I've noticed.

[wnylib]

10. I haven't noticed a child like voice.

Can you think of an example that I could look up and listen to?

He's often been petulant, but I haven't noticed a change in voice.

[Raine]

6. No, not always. My uncle got violent, he threatened to murder the

whole family. Family had to hides knives etc and locked all their bedroom doors to be safe.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. It depends on the person and the type of dementia.

There's a high degree of behavioral variability.

[LeftInTX]

8. Does it matter? Until he can no longer open his mouth, we're stuck with him.

[Johonny]

9. His vocabulary has shrunk

And he is less coherent than ever. Is it dementia or simply a mentally ill man under outstanding pressure of the hardest job on Earth?

[Maru Kitteh]

11. YES. Sometimes in different ways, but YES.

I am an RN working with this population daily. Sometimes they become oppositional-defiant, sometimes they dont feel safe unless they are holding your hand to lead them places. Sometimes they become non-verbal and impulsive. But they all devolve to child-like states.

[Norbert]

12. My grandmother went back for a time to being a 12 year old girl

Although she barely knew my dad anymore, we figure she was in a comfortable place in her life.

[Ilsa]

13. My MIL became belligerent. She'd get up in the middle

of the night and call the police on her son and me, accusing him of stealing her money and holding her while I slapped her! Yeah, multiple times. The police had documented her status, but still had to come out.

[Bayard]

14. My Mom became very fearful

She called me often with tales of shifty activity happening at night around the assisted living facility. Secret rooms being built. She claimed my brother was stealing money from her checking account (he had POA to pay her few bills.) The movie, "End of Days," scared the bejesus out of her. She thought it was real.

I think trump is becoming more delusional, and less inhibited, all the time. Mr. Bayard's mom became pretty beligerent, when she had always previously been this quiet, reserved lady. She would curse his dad relentlessly. It was shocking.

[Intractable]

15. Dementia and strokes made my mom more belligerent, more self-important and demanding, and more unappreciative

of anything nice anyone would do for her.

In other words, she became more of her true self. She could no longer obscure (that is, compensate for) her true personality.

[Straw Man]

16. My grandfather regressed to childhood ...

... although not necessarily to childlike behavior. At one point he thought he was still on the farm and wanted to go out and milk the cows. This was in the late 1980s. He hadn't lived on a farm since leaving Finland for the US in 1917.

[CTyankee]

17. I have dementia and I don't act like him.