Treatment of neurobehavioral impairments caused by brain injury or illness is a complex endeavor. Often, this occurs in the context of a team of clinicians who were trained in different professions and who do not share conceptual models of brain function or a common language for describing cognitive and behavioral impairments. Further complicating this enterprise, some treating professionals, notably neuropsychologists, may have received little formal training in treatment of these impairments and are therefore largely self-taught through study of the literature and continuing education courses. This scenario does not set the stage for effective communication or comity. As a consequence, the rehabilitation process may seem to be as much about seeking a rapprochement among the treatment team as ameliorating the patients’ deficits.

Rehabilitation of Neuropsychological Disorders is an effort by the editors, Brick Johnstone and the late Henry H. Stonnington, to provide a common language for describing neurobehavioral deficits and a summary of treatment approaches for these deficits. The editors and authors provide a framework for the practice of neuropsychological rehabilitation in a short 280-page volume of only 10 chapters that seems shorter as many pages are filled with lists of contact information for state agencies and advocacy organizations. The volume is not intended to provide comprehensive reviews of the current science in the areas addressed. As a result, it is a fairly simple and easy read. The chapters are not authored by the “usual suspects” who are well-known for their research programs on the included topics. This is indicated by how infrequently most of the authors cite their own work. Perhaps this has the advantage of providing a fresh, unbiased approach to treatment recommendations, as the authors are not defending their own conceptual models and therapeutic methods.

The initial chapter by Johnstone and Stonnington provides the rationale for the volume. They note that rehabilitation care providers such as neuropsychologists, physicians, physical therapists, speech/language pathologists, and occupational therapists lack a shared terminology for describing patients’ deficits. They also indicate that standard neuropsychological assessments may be of limited use to the rehabilitation team because they focus on test performances and neuroanatomy rather than patient abilities. To address these concerns, the authors propose a simplified classification of cognitive functioning comprising five categories: (1) Attention, (2) Memory, (3) Executive Functions, (4) Visual-Spatial Skills, and (5) Language. Several subcategories are indicated for each of these areas.

The next five chapters by Levitt and Johnstone; Skeel and Edwards; Callahan; Shaw; and Holland and Larimore provide recommendations for evaluation and treatment for deficits in each of these five areas. These chapters are organized similarly, with each providing a brief description of the nature of the impairment, a functional taxonomy of the impairment, a list and description of common syndromes, methods for assessment, and treatment strategies. The chapters on memory (Skeel and Edwards) and visual-spatial skills (Shaw) also provide brief descriptions of relevant neuroanatomy. Apparently, the assessment and treatment recommendations are intended to apply to any clinical condition producing deficits in each area from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to Traumatic Brain Injury to Dementia. The attempt to cover such a wide range of material in such a few pages obviously sacrifices depth for breadth. Strengths of these chapters include an accessible, easy to read style with clearly stated recommendations for assessment and treatment. Experienced therapists or those with strong knowledge of the current literature on cognitive rehabilitation may find these chapters somewhat simplistic. While the assessment and treatment recommendations are generally reasonable, they may not be informed by the most recent literature. References for each chapter are dated. Citation of work from the 2000s is rare in each chapter with two chapters each citing only one work published later than 1999. The highly influential reviews on cognitive rehabilitation by Cicerone and colleagues (Reference Cicerone, Dahlberg, Kalmar, Langenbahn, Malec and Bergquist2000, Reference Cicerone, Dahlberg, Malec, Langenbahn, Felicetti and Kneipp2005) are not cited at all.

The next four chapters provide brief descriptions of state vocational and rehabilitation programs (Franklin and Harper), the Social Security Disability Determination program (Enck and Martin), advocacy groups for persons with various neurologic or developmental disorders (Shigaki and Smith), and guardianship issues (Reid-Arndt and Evans). In each of these chapters the lion’s share of the pages is devoted to lists of contact information for various state agencies and national advocacy groups. While the amount of information provided on each of these four topics is limited, it is likely to be useful to many readers. As with the other chapters, the text is written in a clear, easy to read style. A glossary of terms used to describe neuropsychological syndromes and neurological deficits concludes the book. In an unusual feature, readers are provided with a link to a webpage that allows them to view some of the content of the book online.

Rehabilitation of Neuropsychological Disorders can be thought of as a text for Cognitive Rehabilitation 101. As such, it is appropriate for graduate students of various rehabilitation disciplines as well as psychology or neuropsychology interns and fellows. Particularly for the latter, supplemental readings of recent papers on cognitive rehabilitation should be provided by the instructor or supervisor. The volume may also usefully guide discussion within an existing rehabilitation team that is motivated to improve communication and work together more closely. Such an exercise could certainly improve consistency in cognitive rehabilitation methods endorsed and consistency is key to making rehabilitation services to brain injury persons successful.