After a discussion of current theory and research findings relating to rehabilitation of brain injury, this book presents 20 case studies of adults with severe brain injuries sustained several years earlier. The causes of their brain damage include traumatic head injuries, encephalitis, stroke and hypoxia. Problems that follow such injuries including loss of self-care skills, memory impairment, language, reading, visuoperceptual and behavioural difficulities, are analysed in detail. The book describes the premorbid lifestyle of each of the 20 individuals, the onset of their brain damage, subsequent symptoms, neuropsychological assessment, rehabilitation, and long-term outcome. Most chapters include a report by the patient and/or family member, thus providing an extra dimension that helps to increase the reader's understanding of the predicaments faced by brain-injured individuals as they learn to cope with traumatic changes in lifestyle. Although improvement for most brain-injured people is slow and limited, all those described in this book made some progress after their admission to rehabilitation services. The exhaustive analysis of each case and step-by-step description of treatment will encourage professionals and other care-givers that much can be done for this severely injured group. For students of neuropsychology and rehabilitation, the book should serve as an inspiring and informative supplementary text.
Part I: Setting the Scene
1: Patients and their Problems
2: Principles and Practices of Rehabilitation
Part II: Living with Memory Disorders
3: Jack: Coming to Terms with Amnesia
4: Jay: Compensating for Amnesia
5: Alex: Some recovery, Return to Work and Marriage Following Anoxic Brain Damage
Part III: Memory and Other Cognitive Problems
6: The Man Who Continues to Have Just Woken Up
7: Martin: A Complete Human Being
8: Lorna: Cognitive Decline and Myotonic Dystrophy
9: Jason: Learning to Be Independent After Encephalitis
Part IV: Language Impairment
10: Bill: Learning to Communicate with Symbols Five Years After a Stroke
11: Laurence: Listening to the Message and Not the Words
12: Ron: Picking Up the Pieces
Part V: Remediation of Acquired Disorders of Reading
13: Ted: The Man Who Could Read "Astrocytoma" But Not "Dog"
14: Derek: Re-learning to Read After a Gunshot Wound
15: Jenny: Regaining Quality of Life Following a Horse Riding Accident
Part VI: Perceptual and Visuospatial Problems
16: Paula: Fear of Physiotherapy and Problems Recognizing Objects After a Severe Head Injury
17: Kirsty: A Case of Optic Aphasia, Associative Agnosia or Semantic Memory Impairment?
18: Richard: A Socially Skilled Young Man Despite Severe Memory and Perceptual Difficulties
19: Dolly: Learning to Attend to the Left Side of Space
Part VII: Behavior and Self-Care Skills
20: Jim: Improving Concentration and Reducing Behavior Problems
21: Improving the Self-Care Skills of a Woman with Quadriplegia and Dysarthria
22: Sarah: Learning Some Self-Care Skills After an Anaesthetic Accident
