Takako Yoshimura
Kyoto Gakuen University, Japan
Biography
Takako Yoshimura is currently focusing her study on cognitive functions and communication in dementia. This study aims to develop effective interventions to the dementia patients who have every day-life difficulties with efficient communication tools, or augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). She began working as a speech-language pathologist, chiefly as a neuropsychologist, to evaluate patients’ cognitive neuropsychological status such as aphasia, agnosia, apraxia, memory disorders, and involving rehabilitation for patients with stroke, tumor, dementia etc. Since then, she has been working in hospitals and clinics in addition to teaching job at colleges and universities. Her AAC study of dementia is outstanding in that she tries to develop methods to approach surrounding people with patients, such as families, from a perspective of cognitive neuropsychological findings.