It's Time to Talk About Dementia — Free Printable Conversation Starters

Dementia Action Week runs 21–27 September. This is our free contribution to it — no email required, no catch.

Download the free pack

Five pages, large print, undated. Print as many copies as you like, for your family or for the people you care for.

Download A4 (Australia, UK, NZ, Europe)
Download US Letter

Why we made it

For most families the hardest part isn't the diagnosis. It's the weeks afterwards, when nobody knows what to say. Conversation gets careful, then it gets short, and then it stops happening. Visits become about the practical things — tablets, appointments, whether the heating is on — because those are the things everyone knows how to talk about.

This pack is twenty questions that tend to work, and six short notes on how to ask them.

Six things that help

Ask about then, not now

Long-term memory often outlasts short-term memory. “What was your first car?” is a far kinder question than “What did you have for lunch?” One invites a story. The other is a test they may fail.

One question at a time

Ask, then wait. Silence isn't a failure, it's thinking time. Count to ten before you fill it.

Don't correct, don't quiz

If the year is wrong or the story has changed since last time, let it be. Being right matters much less than being together.

Follow the feeling, not the fact

If they seem happy telling it, the story is working. If they seem distressed, change direction gently rather than pushing through.

Use the senses

A photograph, a song, a smell, a familiar object placed in their hands — these often open a door that a question cannot.

Shorter is better

Ten good minutes beats an hour of effort. Stop while it is still going well.

A few of the questions

• What was your street like when you were small?
• What was your first job? What did they pay you?
• What song takes you straight back?
• What did your mother cook that you still think about?
• Who made you laugh the hardest?
• What's been the best part of today?
• Would you like to just sit together for a bit?

The full twenty are in the download, grouped so you can find one quickly, and set in large print so the person you're with can read them too if they want to.

If you need more than a conversation

Dementia Australia's National Dementia Helpline is free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on 1800 100 500. They'll talk to anyone — the person living with dementia, family, friends, carers — and you don't need a diagnosis to call.

Keeping a record

If you're caring day to day, writing things down takes the weight off your own memory and makes handovers, GP visits and family updates far easier. Our Dementia Care Journal and Senior Care Binder are built for exactly that — large print, undated, and designed to still be readable at arm's length at the end of a long day.

This is a conversation aid and a personal record-keeping tool. It is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Free to print and share for personal and family use.