Quick and Easy Dementia Test

It’s our mission to make dementia caregiving easier for families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, lewy body dementia, vascular dementia, or any other type of dementia. We do so by making free educational training videos like this so that anyone with an internet connection can access this information.

In this video, I share a quick and easy test often used in dementia testing. It's called the clock draw test. This test alone can't diagnose dementia, but it's a good addition to other tests.

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In case you haven’t met me, my name is Natali Edmonds and I am a board certified geropsychologist. That means that I am a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with older adults. One day, while hiking a trail, I came up with the idea for Careblazers and I decided to see if posting videos online could provide help to the many other Careblazers in the world who don’t get to have help come directly to them in their homes. I hope that this work helps you in some way on your caregiving journey.
#careblazer #dementia #dementiacare

[zptlmff]

I think the last 1 was probably a “grandfather” clock… which is both clever and sad at the same time…

[bridgetburdick]

They told my dad to write something, anything down and he wrote I love you. 💕

[pamkowal]

When my mother with vascular dementia was asked to draw a clock face, she used up all the numbers and still had space on the clock face, so she added J, Q, and K for Jack, Queen and King for the full run in a deck of playing cards.

[budgiebreder]

Ive administered this test to someone who had a stroke. He was 100% recovered from the stroke and the only remaining symptom was he couldnt tell the time from a digital or analogue clock. He could read the numbers and explain what they meant and everything but couldnt process what it meant as a whole.

We got him to draw the clock and he put the 12 where the 5 went and stuff like that. His brain had lost the processing part but all the pieces he still had.

Crazy!!!

[acricucci]

At my physical I was asked to draw 4:10 on a clock & I drew a digital clock just for kicks. The nurse thought it was hilarious but I drew an analog clock to be sure they passed me, which they did.😊

[tuc]

I'm 73. My primary care provider has given me this test every year since I was 65.

[Cosmic]

If I asked my mother to do this, she'd tell me to go to hell, and then throw an actual clock at me.

[crystalm]

My mom is an accountant so anything with numbers is very easy and routine for her….. but she has completely forgotten things like how to make hot chocolate.
If she can’t find something in the grocery store she’ll just say “oh they don’t make that anymore or it’s not available lately. Forgetting brands we’ve used since she was a child saying we haven’t used that before.
My dad does all the cooking now.
So I ratted her out to our family Doctor to start to get some testing started without us having to force her to do it.
She’s upset about the “stupid tests” especially when I made the doctor follow up the second year and make a reason to redo the testing on a yearly basis…..
She’s still fooling the doctors, but it’s getting really difficult

[NoelKerns]

Some of these just break your heart to look at.

[alisonturner]

That's how they diagnosed my mums alzheimer's. She was very good at hiding it in the early stages. She was using stock phrases and just talking about the weather etc. She would ask what we had done that day and when we asked her she would just say ooh nothing much. Bless her heart I miss her so much. She was diagnosed when she was 77 and died aged 85.she didn't really know me for years before she died 💔 😔

[annag.]

My dad did this test. He draw the numbers and the clock hands outside the circle 😢...

[kimberlyoconnor]

My daughter actually asked me to draw this while playing uno ...then told me why... I passed❤

[Ruzzzz]

the one that the numbers just stop following the frame and just go straight up is the creepiest ome by far.

[angellee]

GRAMPA was a genius and this one did not stump him! ENGINEERING MARVELS WAS HIS BRAIN. Not too sure about my blocked head. ❤😂

[SHALAwithSha-Rah]

My dad ACED that fuqn clock What they don't know is he's an author an illustrator of his own children's books 😂. They gotta give him a different test. He's definitely hiding it.

[asauntamaynard]

Thanks so much. What can u tell from how they draw it?

My mom is legally blind with dementia. We (including the various administering professionals) could not tell whether her errors were because of her vision or dementia. She did pretty well on the other sections. The math was the only clear sign we got from these tests. She's progressed since then, so the diagnosis is clear now.

[menarussell]

Can you make a playlist specifically for the different tests, including at home tests?

[thefunandadventureactcharl]

My Dad can nolonger draw the numbers on the clock. His Dementia is progressing He is 81.

[HeavnzMiHome]

I watched my friend do this test. It’s amazing how revealing it can be.

[loubrindley]

Mom had that clock draw test, I wasn't allowed to see what she did -on the day she was diagnosed with Alzheimers & Vascular dementia ❤