More than normal cognitive aging

I had a new pt last week at FW, & because I didn't know anything about the pt & there were timing issues, my teacher instructed me to do an assessment & get to know what the pt was expecting from rehab & what he needed to be able to go home. I thought I did well & I thought I had a good understanding of the pt. After the session, I talked with my teacher about the pt & his status. I thought he was a very alert & intelligent man (he's a retired high school teacher), & he seemed younger than his age of 81. But the teacher saw something I didn't.... cognitive issues. She brought up his slowness in answering, & loss of train of thoughts. I saw it as a normal part of the aging process, but she saw more. In my previous FW, I also saw several older pts that I thought their cognition levels were normal for their age, but I was wrong there too.

When is it just normal aging process & when is it something more? I think to know if it's normal & when it's something more takes experience, along with an exam & several tests. The Mayo Clinic's website has great information about mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The website defines MCI as "an intermediate stage between the expected cognitive decline of normal aging and the more pronounced decline of dementia". It also states that it increases a persons risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. I don't think my patient is at risk for these because of his age.

I look forward to working with this pt to see if I can recognize any of the other symptoms from the website, such as: you forget important events; you feel increasingly overwhelmed when making decisions or planning steps to accomplish a task or interpreting instructions; you have trouble finding your way around familiar environments. Click on the title to get more information about MCI.