My grandfather had Alzheimer’s and sadly lost his ability to speak pretty early on. My saintly grandmother took care of him in their home til the end (she was an RN back in the day). Even though he lost his ability to talk early on, he would wink at my grandma and she seemed to always know what he needed. On his death bed once all his children and grandchildren made it to say goodbye and he was very much out of it, he winked at my grandmother. He passed away shortly after.