Dementia: Screening, evaluation, diagnosis and management

The emergent acknowledgement of the increase rate of dementia among adults with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) has led to the recognition of a lifespan approach to securing and providing services with relevant supports. Consideration of what is most needed in older age has taken on more prominence. Service organizations are responding to the emergence of age-associated neuropathologies as coincident to lifelong conditions and are attempting to adapt their services for continued community care until death. The historical focus on aging among adults with IDD and the recent focus on dementia has heightened awareness of the latter age needs of adults with IDD – and in particular those at-risk of or already affected by dementia. The positive outcome of these public health initiatives is that more dementia-capable services are being developed, technologies are improving, and there is an increased interest in maintaining quality of life through to the end-of-life, irrespective of the nature and complexity of conditions prevalent in older age.