The Right Hemisphere and Disorders of Cognition and Communication
Subtitle
Theory and Clinical Practice
"The Right Hemisphere and Disorders of Cognition and Communication: Theory and Clinical Practice" provides a comprehensive review of right hemisphere cognitive and communication functions for practicing clinicians and graduate students. It also serves to broaden the understanding of right hemisphere disorders within the field of speech-language pathology. The more clinicians and students understand, the more they’ll be able to convey the need for speech-language pathology services for patients and clients with right hemisphere disorders, and the more they’ll be able to provide effective services.
Strokes on the right side of the brain occur nearly as often as those on the left and cognitive-communication disorders due to right hemisphere brain damage occur nearly as often as aphasia. Such strokes often disrupt communication. The deficits are varied and can include impaired pragmatics, verbal communication and difficulties with comprehension, as well as deficits in attention and executive function. Unfortunately, they receive much less attention.
This text covers normal right hemisphere processes as well as the communication disorders and deficits apparent after right hemisphere disorders. Evidence-based practice is comprehensively presented along with suggestions for developing treatment in the absence of evidence. Speech-language pathologists working with clients with neurogenic communication disorders will find current best practices for assessment and treatment.
Bio
Margaret Lehman Blake is a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at University of Houston. She earned her Master of Science at Arizona State University and her doctorate from University of Pittsburgh. Known for her research and teaching on right hemisphere brain damage, she won a Teaching Excellence Award from University of Houston.
Praise for this book
Dr. Blake has a gift for taking complicated and often convoluted information and making it both accessible for students, and fresh for more experienced clinicians. Her writing style is akin to the way in which we need to address our clients and their families — clear, concise, with strong correlation drawn between a cognitive skill and its functional presentation.
Darcy Abrams Teacher's College of Columbia University
