Physical Health of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

This fully revised and expanded second edition brings together findings from research and clinical practice, with comprehensive coverage of the important aspects of physical health in persons with intellectual disability. Professionals involved in the medical and social care and support of persons with intellectual disability should have a broad understanding of the essential range of issues, and therefore this book provides a truly multi-disciplinary perspective, complete with many tables, figures, and illustrations to underline the key points.

The reader is updated on ongoing developments in the general population, which will become increasingly more relevant to adults with intellectual disability. This book also acknowledges that the impact on the person and on their carers always needs to be taken into account, with treatment programs established with a multi-faceted team approach in mind.

This book is aimed at an international audience of physicians and other allied health personnel concerned about the health and welfare of adults with intellectual disability. It should also be of interest to researchers, administrators, and senior program personnel engaged in this field.

Vee Prasher is from Derby, UK and completed his medical training at Birmingham Medical School, UK. He is now Visiting Professor of Neuropsychiatry at Liverpool John Moore University and Consultant Psychiatrist in Neuro-developmental Psychiatry (South Birmingham NHS PCT). His research interests include investigating  aspects of biological, physical and psychiatric health morbidity in adults with learning disability; in particular in adults with Down syndrome. Over the last 20 years he has been involved in research investigating the aetiology, diagnosis and the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in older adults with Down syndrome. His MMedSc degree investigated the validity of visual evoked potentials in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome and his MD thesis investigated physical, psychiatric and social morbidity in over 200 adults with Down syndrome. His PhD investigated a number of biological measures for Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome.He is currently involved in a number of treatment trials for dementia in adults with Down syndrome, including genetic, biological and neuroimaging studies. He has published 13 books and over 100 articles.

Matthew P. Janicki, Ph.D. is the co-chair of the US National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices, as well as a research associate professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the director for technical assistance for the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Developmental Disabilities and Health at the University. Formerly, he was director for aging and special populations for the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, and was the project director of an effort that provided the World Health Organization with a series of background reports on promoting longevity among adults with intellectual disabilities throughout the world. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.