On the alz.org site there is a sections on the stages:

http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_stages_of_alzheimers.asp

If this link doesn't work just go to www.alz.org, then the section on Alzheimers Disease.

There is also a great interactive tour of the Brain which explains with excellent visuals what is going on inside.
Hope this helps.

If you click 'recommendations' above, you will find a link to 'stages of alz' and also 'what you need to know.' Both will help you to understand what is happening to your loved one. However, remember nothing w/AD is cut in stone, stages overlap and not everyone reacts the same way.

thank you for the info. i would gauge my mom at a very high 5 to a mid 6. earlier to day she called me her husband. and said she was nine years old later on in the day.

I just took a look at the stages as listed on that link and the thing I'm seeing is this. People are not just at one stage they tend to float around among them. When I consider my husbands condition according to that list he is anywhere between stage four and six.
He can no longer do any kind of complex work but simple jobs such as changing the oil on our generator are getting difficult for him, last time he was confused about what kind of oil to use (this is a job he's done for over ten years on a regular basis). He will no longer even try to use power tools (thank god) because he is afriad of them.
He still knows the people he sees regularly but some people he's known a long time he can't remember their names, just that they "look familiar and might be a friend or neighbor". He has forgotten one of our sons has a daughter (Alexis turned two in Oct.) but he doesn't see them and we rarely hear from them so she isn't really real to him.
The last time we drove in the snow he told me he was glad I wouldn't let him drive anymore, it was scarey to him.
He can no longer listen to an auidio book and understand it, most radio programs are to difficult for him to follow and many movies are hard because of the style or there are to many characters who look to much alike for him to distinguish who they are.
He can still do things like eat, shower and dress on his own but he has to be prompted to do these things. Even if he is hungry he will not look for food, but he is increasingly fearful that he will forget to take his meds. That is strange coming from a man who has almost never taken any kind of medication even when he was in pain because he hates pills.
On the other hand if you asked him to count backward he could, just don't ask him the day of the week, which year it is or directions to our house.

Thank you..these sites are fantastic.. I have learned more in a half hour than this entire las year since mom and dad were diagnosed.
Thankyou Thank you Thank You..

Sounds like you have already gotten some great feedback. Once you educate yourself on where your loved one falls on the scale for AD...then it's easier to accept what's going to happen next. My Mom has AD and two of her sisters have already died from it. I'm also a speech therapist and have extensive training with AD. HOWEVER, my mother having it makes everything 100 times harder to watch. My mother LOVED to read and now she has no retention because her short term memory is next to nil. She reads orally all of the time but retains nothing. very sad. The best thing I do for my Mom at this point is to go into HER world because she can't come into mine for very long. If something becomes complex-- like a long answer or her listening to a conversation-- I lose her quickly. So I stay on simple things with her. She loves to watch the animal channel and talk about what is happening at that moment. So I do. We look at family photo albums a lot too-- that brings about lots of conversation and makes her happy.
good luck. Write me an email anytime.
Queenie

yes these sights are great. i have learned alot. i put my mom in high end stage 5 and mid 6 because she has different attacks just about everyday. mom can not dress herself right,as for bathing no buy her self. and various other stage 6 problems. like today she went across the street to our neighbors house dressed only in a sweat shirt top and it was cold and rainy. my so call day nurse did not show up. she did not call till late morning. so she is fired. no i have to find someone else pronto. i know i told her i would not put her into a nursing home but know i know i will have to soon. i am going to try to wait till she can't walk and talk till i do. she also suffers from brain atrophy (pre mature shrinking of the brain). she is complaining of having headaches almost every night. when i last told the doctors about this the did a head ct and upgraded the brain atrophy to ------ brain atrophy.( iforget what she calls it). she also said the head ct was kinda cloudy and she was not sure if it was from the alzheimers or some other medical problem they can't find. these headaches she is having i am wondering if my moms time on this earth will end soon? if it does I hope she goes peacefully. my moms sister died from this, and her brother has the diease also.

Queen and peskygnat, so sorry to hear of your situations.. I am such a novice at this.. it helps me to read other accounts.. It just saddens me that once, vital, vibrant people have to resort to such a condition.

My husband is sliding so quickly into stage 6. It seems everyday he goes down, i recently started giving him Risperdol, does anyone have any thoughts on if this is any way responsible? He has really gone downhill on bathing, eating , dressing.