Cognition and language in dementia patients: Contributions from behavior analysis

Aggio et al. (2018) looked for every behavior-analytic paper that tried to help thinking or talking skills in people with dementia.

They found only 16 studies. They did not pool results; they simply mapped what exists.

The shelf is almost bare. Only 16 behavior-analytic studies touch cognition or language in dementia.

No clear verdict on what works because the studies are small and different from each other.

Hattier et al. (2011) said the same thing earlier: behavior analysts rarely study dementia. Aggio narrows the lens to cognition and language, updating the count from 2011.

Lucock et al. (2019) extends the story. They looked at adults who have both intellectual disability and dementia and found only six studies. Together the two reviews show gaps in both the general and IDD dementia populations.

Yoo et al. (2007) scoped donepezil pills for memory. Their drug focus and Aggio’s behavior focus sit side-by-side, both concluding that strong evidence is missing.

If you work with older adults, you now know the evidence base you can cite is tiny. Use this gap as your green light: careful single-case experiments on spaced retrieval, errorless learning, or personalized memory books can add real data to the field and give your clients immediate help.