What are some first signs of dementia besides poor memory?

Behavior changes: Confusion, disorientation, change in personality (previously quiet and reserved person acts rude and belligerent), agitation, difficulty performing simple math problems, trouble dressing and undressing, poor personal hygiene, paranoid thoughts, change in sleep pattern.

Execve functioning: For a diagnosis of dementia [alzheimers dease, for example] there needs to also be poor executive functioning. This is the part of our thinking from the most developed pars of our brain, the frontal and pre-frontal cortex. Problems here show up as issues with poor decision making, poor impulse control, difficult with executive tasks such as balancing a checkbook.