Readers' comments

A reader wrote that she disagreed with me about complaining and yelling being a part of violence, and that she believed we could not expect our care receivers with LBD to control their behavior.  Thank you so much for your respectful disagreement, Rosemary.  Perhaps it is because of my psychological training and years dealing with individuals who qualified for special education, but I believe we can expect our care receiver with LBD to control - to some extent - negative behavior (I am also willing to consider that perhaps our situation is not as advanced and/or his brain is not as damaged in the area of self control as some other individuals with LBD).  I also believe that anything that does not enhance life is part of the continuum of violence.  Perhaps violence is wording it too strongly; it is, however, behavior I want to diminish.  Behavior modification is effective even with those individuals who have compromised executive functioning.  Of course, there will be times of upset for us both, and both of us may momentarily engage in behavior - like sharp words - that we prefer not to.  I guess my rule of thumb is if this behavior is becoming chronic:  Then I want to look at changing something:  my own behavior, the physical setting, or something.  It is a high priority for me to live in harmony, and for about 99% of the time Dwane and I do.