Intervention strategies for spatial orientation disorders in dementia: a selective review.

Purpose: This article provides a brief overview of the intervention strategies aimed at reducing spatial orientation disorders in elderly people with dementia.

Methods: Eight experimental studies using spatial cues, assistive technology programs, reality orientation training, errorless learning technique, and backward chaining programs are described. They can be classified into two main approaches: restorative and compensatory, depending on whether they rely or not on residual learning ability, respectively.

Assistive technology for promoting choice behaviors in three children with cerebral palsy and severe communication impairments.

A technology-based program to promote independent choice behaviors by three children with cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities was assessed. The program was based on learning principles and assistive technology (i.e.

Technology-based orientation programs to support indoor travel by persons with moderate Alzheimer's disease: impact assessment and social validation.

The present study (a) extended the assessment of an orientation program involving auditory cues (i.e., verbal messages automatically presented from the destinations) with five patients with Alzheimer's disease, (b) compared the effects of this program with those of a program with light cues (i.

Reorientation deficits are associated with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Background/aims: Spatial memory can be impaired in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The present study investigates categorical spatial memory deficits using a virtual navigation-based reorientation task.

Methods: Twenty-eight amnestic single domain and 23 amnestic multiple domain patients were compared with 53 healthy elderly controls on the performance of the virtual reorientation test (VReoT).

Assessing human reorientation ability inside virtual reality environments: the effects of retention interval and landmark characteristics.

The purpose of the present study was to assess the navigational behaviour of adult humans following a disorientation procedure that perturbed their egocentric frame of reference. The assessment was carried out in a virtual reality (VR) environment by manipulating the disorientation procedure, the retention interval, the relative positions of target and landmark. The results of experiment I demonstrated that adding a physical rotation to a virtual disorientation procedure did not yield an additional decrease in searching performance.