What are the earliest verbal signs of brain disease?

Absolutely, the answer is yes. When [scientists] focused in the ’80s and the ’90s on memory, we missed this story about language. And we now know that there are forms of Alzheimer’s disease that begin with trouble with naming—known as logopenic aphasia. These are people who don’t present necessarily with memory problems, but they’re struggling to find the right word. When they talk to someone, they are going in circles around words that they can’t find. And then eventually, the speech becomes what we call empty. They say a lot of words, but they’re not communicating very much.
And again, this is geography of the brain. This happens when Alzheimer’s disease starts on the left side of the brain in naming areas. When frontotemporal dementia starts on the left frontal lobe or left anterior temporal lobe, we also get strong language presentations.