Difficulty finding words or the habit of substituting them with others that are similar semantically—such as knife and cutter—or phonologically—such as knife and wife—are usually the first symptoms of a type of dementia known as primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Another sign is a subtle difficulty in forming sentences, evidenced by verbal and nominal agreement errors that have never been made before, or reversal of word order, for example.
Writing errors (dysgraphia) and reading difficulties (dyslexia) may also occur, so that writing and reading become increasingly difficult tasks, as does expressing ideas and thoughts.
Primary progressive aphasia is a rare and difficult-to-diagnose neurodegenerative disease that begins with language problems that affect communication and progresses to more serious cognitive changes that may...