Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia – New Online CE Course

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia: A Practical Guide is a new 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course that offers healthcare professionals a basic foundation in Alzheimer’s disease prevention, diagnosis, and risk management.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia is a new 3-hour online CE course that offers practical information for working with clients with AD.

This course offers practical information to aid healthcare professionals as they interact with clients who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Dementias other than Alzheimer’s disease will be referenced when information about their specific symptoms or treatment is discussed.

We start by considering the differences between typical or “normal” aging and signs indicative of Alzheimer’s disease. This is followed by a review of the criteria necessary to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and the available evaluations for testing cognition and biomarkers. In section two, we consider the possible risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, such as traumatic brain injury, Down syndrome, cardiovascular risks, environmental factors, and lifestyle factors.

Section three offers insight into new developments in the study and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and provides information regarding reputable sources for further information.

The difficulties caregivers experience are discussed in section four and strategies for supporting those caregivers are provided. Section five presents practical guidance for caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease, including daily care activities, keeping the person safe, and unwanted behaviors.

Section six reviews prevention and compensation strategies to help people protect their cognitive health as they age. This includes modifiable risk factors that have the potential to reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. A special section on protecting our elders from scams is also provided. Course #31-50 | 2023 | 65 pages | 20 posttest questions

Click here to learn more about Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia

About the Author

Laura More, MSW, LCSW, has been a licensed clinical social worker for over 40 years and has worked in a variety of practice settings, including: rehabilitation, oncology, trauma, skilled nursing, education, and management. She founded Care2Learn, an online continuing education resource for post-acute healthcare professionals. She has co-authored psychology and nursing books as well as authoring hundreds of online courses. Laura is currently a healthcare author/editor of online continuing education courses, specializing in evidence-based research review. She is the recipient of the 2010 Education Award from the American College of Health Care Administrators.

Course Directions

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. The course is text-based (reading) and the CE test is open-book (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Successful completion of this course involves passing an online test (80% required, 3 chances to take) and we ask that you also complete a brief course evaluation. Click here to learn more.


Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Arizona Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology and Office of School Psychology, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Dietetics and Nutrition, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners – Occupational Therapy; the Mississippi MSDoH Bureau of Professional Licensure – Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists (#PSY-0145), State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135) and marriage and family therapists (#MFT-0100), and the State Board for Social Workers an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (#SW-0664); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and MFT Board (#RCST100501) and Speech and Hearing Professionals Board; the South Carolina Board of Examiners for Licensure of Professional Counselors and Therapists (#193), Examiners in Psychology, Social Worker Examiners, Occupational Therapy, and Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the Tennessee Board of Occupational Therapy; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); the West Virginia Board of Social Work; the Wyoming Board of Psychology; and is CE Broker compliant  (#50-1635 – all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.orgClick here for details.

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Alzheimer’s Disease – New ASHA CEU

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Practical Guide

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Practical Guide is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that offers Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) a basic foundation in Alzheimer’s disease prevention, diagnosis, and risk management.

This course will present practical information to aid healthcare professionals as they interact with clients who are diagnosed with any of the many types of dementia. We will review what is normal in the aging process, and what is not; diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease; testing cognition and gene testing; risk factors; and clinical research. We will then discuss the struggle caregivers face and provide strategies for how best to support them.

The next section will provide practical guidance for caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease, including daily care activities, keeping the person safe, and unwanted behaviors. Next we will review prevention and compensation strategies to help people protect their cognitive health as they age, including modifiable risk factors that have the potential to reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. A final section on protecting our elders from scams and how to find reputable resources for information is included. Course #31-12 | 2018 | 56 pages | 20 posttest questions

Click here to learn more and enroll.

Course Directions

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. After enrolling, click on My Account and scroll down to My Active Courses. From here you’ll see links to download/print the course materials and take the CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Click here to learn more and enroll.

CE Information

Professional Development Resources is approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34);  the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Healthy Living Improves Executive Function

Healthy Living Improves Executive Function

Living a healthy lifestyle will likely help you live longer. But new research suggests living a healthier lifestyle could also increase executive function, which is the ability to exert self-control, set and meet goals, resist temptation, and solve problems.

If you stop and think about it, it makes sense. Resisting donuts and opting for kale, after all, takes a fair amount of self-control – as does getting up early to exercise.

Over time, suggests researchers, these behaviors reinforce one another in a sort of positive feedback loop.

Using data collected from 4,555 adults through the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, researchers analyzed the relationship between physical activity and executive function, adjusting for other variables such as age, gender, education, wealth and illness, and found evidence that the relationship between the two is bidirectional (Allan et al., 2016).

Specifically, individuals with poor executive function showed subsequent decreases in their rates of participation in physical activity and older adults who engaged in sports and other physical activities tended to retain high levels of executive function over time (Allen et al., 2016).

While this study focused on physical activity and its relationship to executive function, the researchers noted that a positive feedback loop between executive function and eating nutritious foods is quite plausible. Similarly, it is likely that negative feedback loops also exist, where unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking or drinking too much alcohol will be both a result of and a predictor of declining executive function (Allan et al., 2016).

This might help explain why executive function typically declines with age, as older people may become more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors like remaining sedentary and less likely to maintain healthy but effortful behaviors like taking prescribed medication regularly.

The up side, however, is that the longer one can maintain high executive function, the longer and more easily that person can stave off behavior that will be detrimental to their health. Dr. Julia Allan explains, “People who make a change to their health behavior, like participating in physical activity, eating less processed food, or consuming more fruits and vegetables, can see an improvement in their brain function over time and increase their chances of remaining healthy as they age” (Allan, 2016).

With the world’s population of elderly folks to hit 1.5 billion by 2050, the connection between executive function – and specifically how it is mediated by and helps to mediate our health – could have major implications.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Executive Functioning in AdultsExecutive Functioning in Adults is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies to help adults overcome executive functioning deficits.

As human beings, we have a built-in capacity to accomplish goals and meet challenges through the use of high-level cognitive functions called “executive functioning” skills. These are the skills that help us to decide which activities and tasks we will pay attention to and which ones we will choose to ignore or postpone.

Executive skills allow us to organize our thinking and behavior over extended periods of time and override immediate demands in favor of longer-term goals. These skills are critical in planning and organizing activities, sustaining attention, and persisting until a task is completed. Individuals who do not have well developed executive functioning skills tend to have difficulty starting and attending to tasks, redirecting themselves when a plan is not working, and exercising emotional control and flexibility. This course offers a wide variety of strategies to help adults overcome such difficulties and function more effectively. Course #31-08 | 2018 | 61 pages | 20 posttest questions

Executive Functioning: Teaching Children Organizational SkillsExecutive Functioning: Teaching Children Organizational Skills is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that will enumerate and illustrate multiple strategies and tools for helping children overcome executive functioning deficits and improve their self-esteem and organizational abilities.

Executive functioning skills represent a key set of mental assets that help connect past experience with present action. They are fundamental to performing activities such as planning, organizing, strategizing, paying attention to and remembering details, and managing time and space. Conversely, executive functioning deficits can significantly disrupt an individual’s ability to perform even simple tasks effectively. Although children with executive functioning difficulties may be at a disadvantage at home and at school, adults can employ many different strategies to help them succeed. Included are techniques for planning and prioritizing, managing emotions, improving communication, developing stress tolerance, building time management skills, increasing sustained attention, and boosting working memory. Course #40-42 | 2017 | 76 pages | 25 posttest questions

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Practical GuideAlzheimer’s Disease: A Practical Guide is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that offers healthcare professionals a basic foundation in Alzheimer’s disease prevention, diagnosis, and risk management.

This course will present practical information to aid healthcare professionals as they interact with clients who are diagnosed with any of the many types of dementia. We will review what is normal in the aging process, and what is not; diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease; testing cognition and gene testing; risk factors; and clinical research. We will then discuss the struggle caregivers face and provide strategies for how best to support them.

The next section will provide practical guidance for caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease, including daily care activities, keeping the person safe, and unwanted behaviors. Next we will review prevention and compensation strategies to help people protect their cognitive health as they age, including modifiable risk factors that have the potential to reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. A final section on protecting our elders from scams and how to find reputable resources for information is included. Course #31-12 | 2018 | 56 pages | 20 posttest questions

Course Directions

Our online courses provide instant access to the course materials and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Practical Guide

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Practical Guide

Alzheimer’s Disease: A Practical Guide is a new 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that offers healthcare professionals a basic foundation in Alzheimer’s disease prevention, diagnosis, and risk management.

This course will present practical information to aid healthcare professionals as they interact with clients who are diagnosed with any of the many types of dementia. We will review what is normal in the aging process, and what is not; diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease; testing cognition and gene testing; risk factors; and clinical research. We will then discuss the struggle caregivers face and provide strategies for how best to support them.

The next section will provide practical guidance for caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease, including daily care activities, keeping the person safe, and unwanted behaviors. Next we will review prevention and compensation strategies to help people protect their cognitive health as they age, including modifiable risk factors that have the potential to reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. A final section on protecting our elders from scams and how to find reputable resources for information is included. Course #31-12 | 2018 | 56 pages | 20 posttest questions

Click here to learn more.

Course Directions

Our online courses provide instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Grief: The Reaction to Loss

New Online Continuing Education (CE/CEU) Course @pdresources.org

Grief: The Reaction to LossGrief: The Reaction to Loss is a new 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that teaches healthcare professionals how to recognize and respond to grief.

Grief is the reaction to loss, and any kind of loss can trigger grief. People grieve for the loss of someone they love, but they also grieve for the loss of independence, usefulness, cognitive functioning, and physical abilities. Grief is also a lifelong process: a journey rather than a disease that is cured. It changes over time to deal with different kinds of losses. It is an experience that is intellectual, physical, spiritual, and emotional. It is affected by the person’s culture, support system, religious beliefs, and a host of other factors.

Grief is often not recognized by healthcare professionals, in patients or themselves. This course will teach healthcare professionals to recognize grief, as well as how to respond appropriately to the grieving person. The progression of aging and dying will be discussed in order to normalize the process, one of the most important aspects of working with a grieving person. Screening guidelines for depression, suicide risk, and grief are included, as are treatment strategies for anticipatory and complicated grief. A final section on compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary stress includes strategies for professional self-care. Course #21-25 | 2018 | 35 pages | 15 posttest questions

Course Directions

Our online courses provide instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

When Aging Becomes a Challenge

When Aging Becomes a Challenge

They are supposed to be your golden years. Your work is done, your finances are in order, and now you can enjoy your life. However, for many people, reaching retirement age brings many new physical and psychological issues.

In a paper published in June in the journal Aging, scientists from the institute’s Medical Informatics and Systems Division found that spontaneous mutations occur in our bodies constantly, but the rate of change differed dramatically among various people.

These changes are often associated with diseases such as diabetes, kidney failure, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease, and are linked to exposure to various environmental stressors (Bavarva et al., 2014).

“We observed that certain portions of our genome age 100 times faster than others. Microsatellites, once considered ‘junk DNA,’ are known to be associated with many diseases. They change much faster than individual DNA bases (known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs), so it is important that future studies look at this very dynamic part of the human genome,” explains Harold Garner, a professor of biological sciences and computer science at Virginia Tech and a professor of medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute (Garner, 2014).

Things are not as simple as we once thought, and aging doesn’t seem to follow any sort of predictable pattern. Nor are the changes simply physical.

According to a longitudinal study of men and women ranging in age from 25 to 104, self-esteem rises steadily as people age but starts declining around the time of retirement.

Self-esteem, which is related to better health, less criminal behavior, lower levels of depression and, overall, greater success in life was found to be lowest among young adults but increased throughout adulthood, peaking at age 60, before it started to decline (Orth et al., 2016).

Further, on average, women had lower self-esteem than did men throughout most of adulthood, but self-esteem levels converged as men and women reached their 80s and 90s. Blacks and whites had similar self-esteem levels throughout young adulthood and middle age. In old age, average self-esteem among blacks dropped much more sharply than self-esteem among whites – even after controlling for differences in income and health (Orth et al., 2016).

Even more interesting was the finding that people of all ages in satisfying and supportive relationships tend to have higher self-esteem, however, despite maintaining higher self-esteem throughout their lives, people in happy relationships experienced the same drop in self-esteem during old age as people in unhappy relationships. Explains Kali H. Trzesniewski, PhD, of the University of Western Ontario, “Although they enter old age with higher self-esteem and continue to have higher self-esteem as they age, they decline in self-esteem to the same extent as people in unhappy relationships” (Trzesniewski, 2016).

While there are numerous theories as to why self-esteem peaks in middle age and then drops after retirement, such as a change in roles, an empty nest, retirement and obsolete work skills in addition to declining health, not one theory accurately explains the decline. However, through understanding the common physical and psychological challenges that the aging population faces, professionals who treat them can help ensure the highest levels of functioning, and a well-earned retirement.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Aging: Challenges for CliniciansAging: Challenges for Clinicians is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course that provides a review of the aging process, illustrating potential challenges and effective solutions. Americans are living longer and there are proportionately more older adults than in previous generations due to the post-World War II baby boom. Many Americans are now living into their eighties and beyond. In healthcare, the volume of older people may soon outnumber the supply of healthcare professionals trained in geriatrics. Aging presents many challenges for people as they encounter new physical and psychosocial issues. It is vital for healthcare professionals to be familiar with the challenges of aging in order to effectively treat the aging population. This course will provide information on the normal process of aging, and point out problems commonly thought to be normal that require medical or psychological evaluation and treatment. Case examples will illustrate scenarios of aging persons who may be at risk but are not aware there is a problem. Use this information for referral as appropriate to ensure the highest level of functioning for your patients. Course #31-01 | 2017 | 54 pages | 20 posttest questions

Biology of AgingBiology of Aging: Research Today for a Healthier Tomorrow is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that reviews the research on aging and provides insight into where the science is heading. What is aging? Can we live long and live well—and are they the same thing? Is aging in our genes? How does our metabolism relate to aging? Can your immune system still defend you as you age? Since the National Institute on Aging was established in 1974, scientists asking just such questions have learned a great deal about the processes associated with the biology of aging. Technology today supports research that years ago would have seemed possible only in a science fiction novel. This course introduces some key areas of research into the biology of aging. Each area is a part of a larger field of scientific inquiry. You can look at each topic individually, or you can step back to see how they fit together, interwoven to help us better understand aging processes. Research on aging is dynamic, constantly evolving based on new discoveries, and so this course also looks ahead to the future, as today’s research provides the strongest hints of things to come. Closeout course #20-85 | 2012 | 30 pages | 15 posttest questions

Alzheimer’s - Unraveling the MysteryAlzheimer’s – Unraveling the Mystery is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that describes the risk factors, effective steps for prevention, strategies for diagnosing and treating, and the search for new treatments for AD. Alzheimer’s dementia is a growing concern among the aging Baby Boomers; yet, modern science points the way to reducing the risks through maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This course is based on a publication from the National Institute on Aging, which describes healthy brain functioning during the aging process and then contrasts it to the processes of Alzheimer’s disease. Strategies for reducing caregiver stress are also briefly discussed. Closeout Course #30-54 | 2008 | 45 pages | 21 posttest questions

Course Directions

Online courses provide instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

50% Off Alzheimer’s Unraveling the Mystery – New Closeout Course

From PDR Promotions

We’ve added a new online CE course to our Closeout list at 50% off regular price:

Alzheimers---Unraveling-th

3 Hours CE only $29!! (was $58)

Alzheimer’s – Unraveling the Mystery is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that describes the risk factors, effective steps for prevention, strategies for diagnosing and treating, and the search for new treatments for AD.

This course is based on a publication from the National Institute on Aging, which describes healthy brain functioning during the aging process and then contrasts it to the processes of Alzheimer’s disease. Strategies for reducing caregiver stress are also briefly discussed. Closeout Course #30-54 | 2008 | 45 pages | 21 posttest questions

CE Credit: 3 Hours
Learning Level: Introductory
Price: $29! (was $58)

You might also like…

Alzheimers Disease Progress Report
Spiritual Care Handbook
ADHD
Eliminating Self-Defeating Behaviors

 

Professional Development Resources is approved to offer continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and the Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; and the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners.

 

Alzheimer’s Can Mean More Than Memory Loss

By Rick Nauert PhD

Alzheimers May Be More Than Memory LossA new study warns that relying on clinical symptoms of memory loss to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease may miss other forms of dementia that do not initially affect memory.

Northwestern Medicine researchers discovered people who present with atypical forms of Alzheimer’s often miss out on opportunities to participate in clinical trials to treat Alzheimer’s.

There is more than one kind of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s can cause language problems, disrupt an individual’s behavior, personality, and judgment or even affect someone’s concept of where objects are in space.

If it affects personality, it may cause lack of inhibition. “Someone who was very shy may go up to grocery store clerk — who is a stranger — and try to give her a hug or kiss,” said first author Dr. Emily Rogalski, associate professor at Northwestern’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

Researchers say the presence or absence of memory loss all depends on what part of the brain is affected. A definitive diagnosis can only be achieved with an autopsy.

Emerging evidence suggests an amyloid PET scan, an imaging test that tracks the presence of amyloid — an abnormal protein whose accumulation in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s — may be used during life to determine the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

In the study, the authors identify the clinical features of individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a rare dementia that causes progressive declines in language abilities due to Alzheimer’s disease. Early on in PPA, memory, and other thinking abilities are relatively intact.

PPA can be caused either by Alzheimer’s disease or another neurodegenerative disease family called frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

The presence of Alzheimer’s disease was assessed in this study by amyloid PET imaging or confirmed by autopsy.

The study demonstrates that knowing an individual’s clinical symptoms isn’t sufficient to determine whether someone has PPA due to Alzheimer’s disease or another type of neurodegenerative disease.

Because of this, biomarkers, such as amyloid PET imaging, are necessary to identify the neuropathological cause, the authors said.

In the study, Northwestern scientists looked at individuals in mild stages of language loss caused by Alzheimer’s disease and described their brain atrophy based on MRI scans and their results on cognitive tests.

“We wanted to describe these individuals to raise awareness about the early clinical and brain features of PPA to develop metrics which would advocate for their inclusion in clinical trials targeting Alzheimer’s disease,” Rogalski said.

“These individuals are often excluded because they don’t have memory deficits, but they share the same disease [Alzheimer’s] that’s causing their symptoms.”

Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2016/09/14/alzheimers-can-be-more-than-memory-loss/109862.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=hot-topics

Related Online Continuing Education Courses

 

This course is presented in two parts. Part 1 offers strategies for managing the everyday challenges of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease, a difficult task that can quickly become overwhelming. Research has shown that caregivers themselves often are at increased risk for depression and illness. Each day brings new challenges as the caregiver copes with changing levels of ability and new patterns of behavior. Many caregivers have found it helpful to use the strategies described in this course for dealing with difficult behaviors and stressful situations.Part 2 includes tips on acute hospitalization, which presents a new environment filled with strange sights, odors and sounds, changes in daily routines, along with new medications and tests. This section is intended to help professionals and family members meet the needs of hospitalized Alzheimer’s patients by offering facts about Alzheimer’s disease, communication tips, personal care techniques, and suggestions for working with behaviors and environmental factors in both the ER and in the hospital room.

 

A diagnosis of dementia can be frightening for those affected by the syndrome, their family members, and caretakers. Learning more about dementia can help. This course provides a general overview of dementia and specific types of dementia along with their signs and symptoms; lists risk factors that can increase a person’s chance of developing one or more kinds of dementia; describes how the disorders are diagnosed and treated, including drug therapy; and offers highlights of research that is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging, both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

 

Alzheimer’s – Unraveling the Mystery is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that describes the risk factors, effective steps for prevention, strategies for diagnosing and treating, and the search for new treatments for AD. Alzheimer’s dementia is a growing concern among the aging Baby Boomers; yet, modern science points the way to reducing the risks through maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This course is based on a publication from the National Institute on Aging, which describes healthy brain functioning during the aging process and then contrasts it to the processes of Alzheimer’s disease. Strategies for reducing caregiver stress are also briefly discussed.

 

What is aging? Can we live long and live well—and are they the same thing? Is aging in our genes? How does our metabolism relate to aging? Can your immune system still defend you as you age? Since the National Institute on Aging was established in 1974, scientists asking just such questions have learned a great deal about the processes associated with the biology of aging. Technology today supports research that years ago would have seemed possible only in a science fiction novel. This course introduces some key areas of research into the biology of aging. Each area is a part of a larger field of scientific inquiry. You can look at each topic individually, or you can step back to see how they fit together, interwoven to help us better understand aging processes. Research on aging is dynamic, constantly evolving based on new discoveries, and so this course also looks ahead to the future, as today’s research provides the strongest hints of things to come.

 

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Professional Development Resources, Inc. is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) that offers 150+ online, video and book-based continuing education courses for healthcare professionals. We are approved by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (b); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; and by the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners.

 

How People Die After Reaching 100

By Alexandra Sifferlin

How People Die After Reaching 100An interesting study on how centenarians die, and how they manage to live longer lives.

People who live more than 100 years are fascinating to all of us because they seem especially skilled at dodging risk factors that make death come quicker. That’s why when these centenarians eventually die, their cause of death is of interest—particularly to scientists. A new report released by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics on Thursday takes stock of the status of centenarians in the United States.

It reveals that the number of Americans that reach 100, though few, went up nearly 44% from 2000 (when there were 50,281 centenarians alive) to 2014 (when there were 72,197). The researchers also report that women accounted for about 80% of the total centenarian population in the U.S. during that time.

According to Dr. Thomas Perls, who was not involved with the new study but is a professor of medicine and geriatrics at the Boston Medical Center and director of New England Centenarian Study, the rise in the number of people living into their 100s is likely due in part to massive improvements in public health in the 1900s. A section of the population with the ability to live very long lives were now living with medical capacities that prevented ailments, like some infectious disease or problems during childbirth.

The fact that women live longer isn’t a surprise. “Women are definitely winning the longevity race,” says Perls. That might be thanks to a combination of factors like genetics and lifestyle, according to Perls.
Overall, death rates for people age 100 and older went up from the year 2000 to 2008, but then fell through 2014, the study finds. Among centenarians, the top five causes of death in 2014 were heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, cancer, and influenza and pneumonia. The researchers found that the death rates for Alzheimer’s disease among centenarians increased 119% between 2000 and 2014.

Perls says around 40% of centenarians do not get Alzheimer’s, and that when they do get the disease, it’s markedly delayed compared to the general population. The increase could be due the fact that there are more centenarians than before, he says.

This is likely not the last time we see an increase in the number of people 100 and older who are alive. Perls predicts that in 2040, we will likely see a huge number of centenarians as the Baby Boomers continue to age. Original Article

 

Related Continuing Education Courses

 

With the increasing number of older people in the United States, it is vital for healthcare professionals to communicate effectively and respectfully with elders. Effective, appropriate communication with elders is important for many reasons. For psychotherapists and other mental health professionals, communication is the foundation of service delivery. Communication is required for assessment of the person prior to treatment. Symptoms are, after all, subjective and must be reported by the person to the clinician. Effective communication also contributes to health literacy; the person’s understanding of her condition, treatment options, and the treatment plan to be followed. A person cannot comply with a treatment program unless the program is communicated clearly enough for the person to understand it. The more effective the communication, the more effective treatment will be – and the more cost effective. Communication also helps the clinician understand the whole person: the emotional, social, and financial realities that affect response to treatment and ability to comply. This course provides an overview of aging changes that affect communication, dysfunctional communication habits to avoid, and strategies for appropriate communication with elders.

 

The emotional stress of caring for persons who are aging, chronically ill or disabled can be debilitating for family members as well as professional caregivers. This course addresses caregiver depression and grief and provides a three-step process that can help develop an attitude of creative indifference toward the people, situations and events that cause emotional stress. It offers suggestions for dealing with preparatory grief, an experience shared by families and professionals as they cope with the stress of caring for someone who will never get well. In the process, it also explains the differences between reactionary depression and clinical depression. By gaining insights into the process of losing someone over an extended period of time, the mental health professional will be in a better position to understand the caregiver’s experience with depression and grief and provide both empathy and strategies for implementing a self-care plan. This course includes downloadable worksheets that you can use (on a limited basis) in your clinical practice. The course video is split into 3 segments for your convenience.

 

What is aging? Can we live long and live well—and are they the same thing? Is aging in our genes? How does our metabolism relate to aging? Can your immune system still defend you as you age? Since the National Institute on Aging was established in 1974, scientists asking just such questions have learned a great deal about the processes associated with the biology of aging. Technology today supports research that years ago would have seemed possible only in a science fiction novel. This course introduces some key areas of research into the biology of aging. Each area is a part of a larger field of scientific inquiry. You can look at each topic individually, or you can step back to see how they fit together, interwoven to help us better understand aging processes. Research on aging is dynamic, constantly evolving based on new discoveries, and so this course also looks ahead to the future, as today’s research provides the strongest hints of things to come.

 

A diagnosis of dementia can be frightening for those affected by the syndrome, their family members, and caretakers. Learning more about dementia can help. This course provides a general overview of dementia and specific types of dementia along with their signs and symptoms; lists risk factors that can increase a person’s chance of developing one or more kinds of dementia; describes how the disorders are diagnosed and treated, including drug therapy; and offers highlights of research that is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging, both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

 

This online course provides an accessible tool kit for health care providers and therapists to use in attending to the spiritual well being – as well as the physical, social, and emotional needs – of older adults in their care. Included are ready-to-use exercises and techniques for promoting spiritual self-awareness in seniors, as well as vignettes from the author’s own years of experience. The author makes a clear distinction between spirituality and religion, emphasizing the importance of helping older adults come to terms with the numerous losses they experience in later life. Among the tools described herein are the spiritual inventory, an assessment of spiritual needs, the value of forgiveness and legacy, a discussion of spiritual deterrents, the importance of cultural sensitivity, and how to promote spiritual growth in a group setting.

 

Professional Development Resources is approved to offer continuing education to MFTs by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP#5590); the American Psychological Association (APA); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB ACE#1046); the Florida Board of MFT (#50-1635) and is CE Broker compliant (completions are reported within 7 days); the South Carolina Board of MFT (#193); the Ohio MFT Board (#RCST100501); and the Texas Board of MFT (#114).

Head Trauma and Alzheimer’s May Share Some Similarities

By Agata Blaszczak-Boxe

Head Trauma and AlzheimersStudy finds that people with traumatic brain injury have the same plaque buildup as people with Alzheimer’s disease.
 
People with brain injuries from trauma to the head may have a buildup of the same plaques seen in people with Alzheimer’s disease in their brains, a small, new study suggests.

Moreover, the areas of the brain where the plaques were found in people with brain injuries overlapped with the areas where plaques are usually found in people with Alzheimer’s. However, the people with the brain injuries also had plaques in some other brain areas, the researchers said.

“People, after a head injury, are more likely to develop dementia, but it isn’t clear why,” study co-author David Sharp, a neurology professor at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. “Our findings suggest [that traumatic brain injury] leads to the development of the plaques which are a well-known feature of Alzheimer’s disease.”
 
In the new study, the researchers scanned the brains of nine people who all had a single traumatic brain injury (TBI) that was moderate to severe. The average age of the people in the study was 40, and their brain injuries occurred between 11 months and 17 years before the start of the study. For comparison, the researchers also scanned the brains of nine people without a TBI and the brains of 10 people with Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers found that both the people with brain injuries and the people with Alzheimer’s disease had plaques in a brain area called the posterior cingulate cortex, which is affected in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

However, only the people with brain injuries had plaques in the brain’s cerebellum, according to the study, published February 3rd in the journal Neurology.

Moreover, the buildup of the plaques was greater in the patients with brain injuries who had more damage to the brain’s white matter, the researchers found.

These findings suggests that “plaques are triggered by a different mechanism after a traumatic brain injury,” than they are in people with Alzheimer’s, Sharp said. “The damage to the brain’s white matter at the time of the injury may act as a trigger for plaque production.”

In the study, the researchers also examined the subjects’ thinking abilities. They found that the people with brain injuries performed worse on tests of attention, information-processing speed and cognitive flexibility, compared with age-matched people in the control group.

“The patients we studied here had a single, moderate-severe traumatic brain injury, for example, from motor vehicle accidents,” said lead study author Dr. Gregory Scott, a clinical research fellow who is also with Imperial College London. “Our results suggest the consequences of such an injury can be very prolonged and potentially lead to [the] development of dementia,” he told Live Science.

“If a link between brain injury and later Alzheimer’s disease is confirmed in larger studies, neurologists may be able to find prevention and treatment strategies to stave off the disease earlier,” Sharp said.

Over the past decade, the rate of visits to emergency departments due to traumatic brain injury has increased by 70 percent, and “was estimated in 2010 at a staggering 2.5 million visits,” neuroscience researchers Ansgar J. Furst of Stanford University School of Medicine and Erin D. Bigler of Brigham Young University, who were not involved in the study, wrote in a related editorial.

According to some estimates, 3 to 5 million people in the United States live with disabilities related to TBIs, they said in their editorial.

Furst and Bigler noted that, though the new findings are exciting, the number of people with TBI in the current study was small, and therefore more research is needed to confirm the results.

Follow Agata Blaszczak-Boxe on Twitter. Originally published on Live Science.

Continuing Education Courses

This course is presented in two parts. Part 1 offers strategies for managing the everyday challenges of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease, a difficult task that can quickly become overwhelming. Research has shown that caregivers themselves often are at increased risk for depression and illness. Each day brings new challenges as the caregiver copes with changing levels of ability and new patterns of behavior. Many caregivers have found it helpful to use the strategies described in this course for dealing with difficult behaviors and stressful situations.Part 2 includes tips on acute hospitalization, which presents a new environment filled with strange sights, odors and sounds, changes in daily routines, along with new medications and tests. This section is intended to help professionals and family members meet the needs of hospitalized Alzheimer’s patients by offering facts about Alzheimer’s disease, communication tips, personal care techniques, and suggestions for working with behaviors and environmental factors in both the ER and in the hospital room.

 

A diagnosis of dementia can be frightening for those affected by the syndrome, their family members, and caretakers. Learning more about dementia can help. This course provides a general overview of dementia and specific types of dementia along with their signs and symptoms; lists risk factors that can increase a person’s chance of developing one or more kinds of dementia; describes how the disorders are diagnosed and treated, including drug therapy; and offers highlights of research that is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging, both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

 

This course is based on the public-access publication, Caring for a Person with Alzheimer’s Disease: Your Easy-to-Use Guide from the National Institute on Aging. The booklet discusses practical issues concerning caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease who has mild-to-moderate impairment, including a description of common challenges and coping strategies. Advice is provided regarding keeping the person safe, providing everyday care, adapting activities to suit their needs, and planning ahead for health, legal, and financial issues. Chapters also discuss self-care for caregivers, sources of assistance for caregivers in need, residential options for care, common medical issues, and end-of-life care. This course is relevant to clinicians who work with elderly individuals, their families, and their caretakers.

 

This introductory course, from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), describes what is known about frontotemporal dementia and other brain disorders that affect personality, behavior, language, and movement. It is meant to help people with frontotemporal disorders, their families, and caregivers learn more about these conditions and resources for coping. It explains what is known about the different types of disorders and how they are diagnosed. Most importantly, it describes how to treat and manage these difficult conditions, with practical advice for caregivers.

Professional Development Resources is approved to offer online continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; and by the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners.