Guidance Document on Dementia in Persons with Intellectual Disability

This report, by the Irish Faculty of Learning Disability Psychiatry, provides information on persons with intellectual disability and dementia for their families and offers guidance to persons working in clinical settings. The report provides a series of recommendations related to the assessment and management of suspected or diagnosed cognitive decline or dementia. Although the report is designed from the Republic of Ireland services environment, its information applies to any country's care structures. The report contains a number of recommendations addressing plans for recognition and management of dementia, e baseline function screening, use of a multidisciplinary team, clinicians working together to assess and communicate the diagnosis of dementia, involving families and persons with dementia in discussions, providing comprehensive services, encouraging aging in place, providing palliative care, and ensuring that trainees specializing in psychiatry of intellectual disability should have training in diagnosis and management of dementia.