Neurocognitive Disorders in Aging

"This comprehensive and lucid book provides a unified and principled look at neurogenic disorders in aging. Nothing quite like it exists. Many professions provide service to individuals with such problems. Similarly, many professions are involved in furthering research with them. But they seldom speak a common language or a share a common understanding of them. Dr. Kempler′s book provides the way for all of us to interact . . . and it follows naturally, that individuals who have these disorders should benefit."

-Audrey L. Holland, Ph.D., Regents′ Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona

"Kempler has accomplished a great deal with this book. It provides comprehensive, sophisticated, and highly accessible coverage of a vast and important area. Clinicians, researchers, and students from several disciplines will find this text extremely useful due to its thoroughness and scope. And, almost as important in practical terms, the book is easy to read."

-Hiram Brownell, Ph.D., Boston College

"Daniel Kempler′s book has a wonderfully clear, smooth teaching voice which brings clarity to difficult topics. The emphasis on treatment strategies in addition to assessment strategies stands out, as does the attention to successful and normal aging as well as pathology. The book serves well as an introduction for practitioners and students who are working with the elderly and want to expand their knowledge of neurobehavioral issues, as well as a refresher or quick reference for more advanced readers."

-Laura M. Clark, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Neurocognitive Disorders in Aging offers an excellent introduction to the common disorders that cause cognitive and related behavioral impairments in older people. The book prepares readers to readily identify abnormal behavior and make inferences about the underlying pathology, likely diagnoses, and possible treatment of those disorders. Throughout the book, author Daniel Kempler emphasizes the links between brain dysfunction, cognitive impairment, diagnosis, and treatment.

Neurocognitive Disorders in Aging begins with an introduction to the basic concepts necessary to understand symptoms and diseases of aging including basic neuroanatomy, the pathophysiology underlying focal brain damage, and the differences between younger and older adults that affect clinical evaluations and treatments. The book then moves on to examine specific cognitive and behavioral disorders such as those that occur after an injury to a localized region of the brain, issues of memory loss, and several common movement disorders associated with aging. The examination of each disorder looks at areas of normal function, changes in healthy aging, and common behavioral systems of the disease, followed by diagnostic and treatment issues.

Key Features

• Integrates both the behavioral and clinical aspects of aging disorders
• Allows students to easily study a particular topic since the chapters are designed to stand alone and serve as a useful reference for particular symptoms and syndromes
• Approaches each disorder from four perspectives-symptoms, etiology, testing and evaluation, and treatment, and provides answers to common questions about the behavior of older adults
• Avoids medical jargon and includes a glossary to help students master the technical terms that are customary in the field
• Includes a contribution from Teresa Seeman and Melissa Tabbarah, two experts in the field of gerontology, that reviews the current theories and research on successful cognitive and physical aging

Neurocognitive Disorders in Aging is an exceptional introduction for students and professionals with no prior background in gerontology, medicine, or related fields, as well as those who have general knowledge of these topics but wish to learn more about specific disorders. It is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate courses in gerontology, clinical psychology, and neuropsychology. The book is also an excellent reference for practitioners such as day-care and nursing-home workers, psychologists, social workers, rehabilitation specialists, physicians, and nurses.

Daniel Kempler earned Master′s and Ph.D. degrees in Linguistics and obtained clinical training and a certificate of clinical competence in Speech-Language Pathology.  Since 2002, he has been Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Emerson College in Boston.  Prior to this, he held simultaneous positions as Professor in the Schools of Medicine and Gerontology at the University of Southern California and Director of the Speech and Hearing Clinics at the Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center.  He has worked as both a teacher and a clinician.  Dr. Kempler′s research centers around the theme of understanding the neurological and psychological processes underlying speech and languge abilities by studying communication disorders due to brain injury.  In collaboration with colleagues, he has developed several tests used to assess understanding of idioms and proverbs, non-verbal reasoning, and sentence comprehension, as well as a battery to assess dementia in several cultural and language groups.  He has written or co-authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters.  He provides professional and community service in many areas, from initiating and coordinating a support group for Parkinsonians and their families, to serving as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Speech-Language Hearing Research and a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Aphasia.