Language symptoms

The majority of patients with the language variants have problems expressing themselves with language while their memory stays relatively intact. Difficulties reading and writing then develop. To understand more about language, see our Speech and Language section.

At the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, we have found a small group of FTD patients who develop new creative skills in music and art as their language skills decline. For more information about this topic, please see this article on Personality and Creativity.

Semantic dementia (SD)

The most common complaint of people with semantic dementia (SD) is increasing trouble naming people, objects, facts and words. As the disease progresses, they lose not only the ability to name something, but also the meaning of what it is they are trying to name – like how to use it or to what context it belongs. People with SD usually know they are having trouble finding their words and understanding what is being said to them. Their speech tends to keep the usual speed and rhythm, but they may substitute similar but incorrect words or replace a word with "thing" or "stuff." Patients continue to speak the same amount, even as the disease progresses. Some people may develop an inability to recognize familiar faces. Later in the disease course, similar behavioral changes to those seen in bvFTD may appear.

Progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA)

People with PNFA tend to come to the doctor's office with complaints about changes in their fluency or rhythm of speech, pronunciation or word finding difficulty. These patients tend not to show the behavioral characteristics of FTD until quite late in the disease, and they are keenly aware of their difficulties. Depression and social withdrawal are common features of PNFA. As the disease progresses, less and less language is used, until the patient may be virtually mute.

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