The first elder for whom I became a primary caregiver was my neighbor, Joe. Joe was born of Norwegian immigrant parents and spoke Norwegian at home until he started first grade. Joe needed to repeat first grade because he spent his first year in school learning English. While, in the end, this didn’t hurt him and he went on to become a well educated engineer who spoke English with no Norwegian accent, he did tell stories about how difficult his first years in school were.
Read more about bi-lingual elders and Alzheimer's:
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