Hello Lynn
First of all, the situation from your Dad's side. Besides the love that overarches everything, he will also feel overwhelming personal responsibility, helplessness, frustration, as well as guilt and - perhaps unrecognised immediately - anger.
Anger at the disease, anger at the support services for never being able to do enough, anger at himself for letting his wife down when she needs him the most, anger at God if he believes in such a thing. It took someone telling me I was angry for me to realise that I was, very. He may well even have fleeting anger at his wife for leaving him [mentally as well as physically], although he will realise that it was not her doing.
In caring for her he will have become as much dependent on her as she was on him - possibly more so. The patient can become the raison d'etre for the carer.
The thing that may surprise you is that your Dad probably won't think the care he has provided is anything special; he will simply have done it, and absorbed each new task as an extension of what a spouse does for their partner. It took a number of people telling me that what I have done for my wife is special in some way, to make me realise that perhaps it has been. Not that this helps overmuch because at the end of the day, one can't cure the problem. The best one can do is make the inevitable decline as manageable as possible, and as painless as possible for the patient. One tends to forget to look after oneself.
Be prepared that your Dad may not want to accept help from support groups. I wouldn't have, had there been any. I made a conscious effort not to learn about what was to come at each stage. Fear mostly, but I also did not want to make judgements based on other people's experiences - I wanted to take each new thing as it came, and deal with it. Frankly the medical profession was not overly helpful in preparing me for anything; most of the time I felt that I needed to help them understand the disease and its ramifications. I diagnosed my wife's condition 4 years before they did.
The fact that you have found a good home is fundamental and you can build on that. Depending on the patient's condition, some people do take them out on trips. If it causes problems when they return, then for everyone, it may be best not to do so. If the home has a garden then that is a good substitute in all but wintertime. A trip into the garden means you are all still within her new 'home', and that will help her adjust more quickly. There are always interesting things going on in a garden, flora and fauna. If there is a place indoors where you can walk and talk, use that too.
When you are with her, talk also to other residents as you pass or meet them [also to their family]. This helps them, and will help her feel everything is normal, to a degree.
When the speech goes it is difficult, but I have found a host of other ways to communicate with my wife. As her sight is also compromised, I find that touch is critical - for her to be able to hold my arm, nose, ear - the times she has nearly throttled me! I put my arm around her and have followed her example of patting. When she pats my arm or back it means that she recognises me in some way. Probably not as her husband, but as someone she trusts, which is the best I can now expect. When I pat her back, she seems to relax a bit.
I also communicate through food. Jan loves Fanta, so I am pretty much keeping that company going by buying in bulk. I add cranberry juice to it as that helps the bladder. She gets dehydrated and I always tell her the bar is open and I have brought her a drink. She understands that.
She also loves Mr Kipling Country Slices and Lemon Slices, so I buy them in quantity as well. She really likes these and we have good communication as I feed her with them each day. Speech it is not, effective communication it is!
So you need to establish a new mode of communication that is appropriate in your case. Distraction and cheerfulness is a great thing.
At present I would worry more about your Dad. Distraction may be good for him too. Such distraction could go two ways: distraction that involves his wife in some way; distraction that takes him from her. I found that the most effective thing was to immerse myself in a project which was to bring together photos of our life together. In that way I could relive the good times for a while, and the results were then available for the rest of the family, who learnt a few things in the process. At a later stage one can put that down and draw a line under that life.
If that is not a good idea, then encourage him to spend some time on something that he may have wanted to do before, but never had the time. He will find he has empty time on his hands now he is not actively involved in caring, and that hangs heavily. I bought heaps of DVDs and watched them endlessly to distract my mind. Worked for me.
Finally, you didn't say how far away is the home. If it is possible, your Dad may benefit from visiting very regularly in the first instance, and then wean himself off gradually, as your Mom settles in. If she is tearful and sometimes angry, it is because she is confused, not because she means it.
I'm no expert, by the way. I've invented everything as I have gone along; dropped things that didn't work; kept things that did; adjusted daily, sometimes hourly. What has worked for me may not for you or your Dad. 14 years into this process I am still having to learn as my wife's condition changes. I've probably learned as much about myself as I have about the rest of the mess!
Good luck - do use the forum whenever you need to, or send private messages.