By the time a person reaches late stage dementia, concentration disappears. Mother’s ability to concentrate is mostly gone.
A fleeting memory, a song listened to, a story read, a much enjoyed TV news show broadcast — not one of these activities can be completed. We can start any of them and for a minute the attention is there. But within minutes the focus wanes. Sometimes we are brusquely told to stop. At other times Mother just looks away vacantly. Or she gets confused. It’s as if she cannot filter out the ambient sounds that we all take for granted — the heater fan, the hallway sounds, the radio background music.
As Our Parents Age So Do We 