My husband was always a quiet, gently spoken man before this disease struck. He is still quiet and gently spoken but he struggles very hard to complete sentences and this has grown steadily worse since April.
We aren't a very noisy household generally, so I have noticed that he copes better at home than say, at one of his groups - mainly because we can turn off the tv or other background noise whenever we notice that he is trying to get his words together.
That said, even though we give him time and space to speak, there is continued deterioration in his speech. I notice that he gets frustrated with himself, and know, deep inside, that no matter how much space and time we give him, he will gradually speak less and less to avoid the struggle and frustration he feels. I'll keep encouraging him to talk, and keep trying to work out where his conversation is taking us for as long as I can. They say finishing people's sentences for them is rude but it is the way we get by these days - and luckily, most of the time, I am on the right track in my guesses, which seems to help keep him motivated to talk for now.