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Twenty mid-stage Alzheimer's patients at the Jewish Home and Hospital in the Bronx participatedfor 12 weeks each in four groups offive in a five-day-a-week program of structured multi-modality group communication intervention called “The Breakfast Club.” Twenty matched patients participated in a standard conversation group and served as controls. The Breakfast Club attempted to incorporate all that was currently known about the residual communication strengths of Alzheimer's patients and about previous treatments shown to be effective with this population. Results showed that Breakfast Club participants improved significantly on measures of language performance, functional independence and use of social communication while control subjects did not. Breakfast Club members also showed significant increases in “interest and involvement” and the use of procedural memories over the 12-week period.

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The dismantling of language characteristic ofpeople with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders has a profound effect on their quality oflife and on their interactions with family, staff andpeers in the nursing home environment. Recognition that the ability to articulate our experiences enqbles us to sustain connections with other people and ourselves, speechpathologists are challenged to develop innovative therapies to compensate for the ravages the disease inflicts on language and communication. This article describes a program designed to enhance residents' communication skills and interactions, creating opportunities for decision-making which in turn promote optimal use of their residual cognitive abilities.