Alzheimer's - Finding the Words: A Communication Guide for Those Who Care

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Guide
Review: "Finding the words" to communicate with someone who has Alzheimer's is a problem-- especially after many words have lost their meanings to that person. Harriet Hodgson, the daughter of an Alzheimer's patient, has done an excellent job in giving us a guidebook for communicating in the daily struggle all caregivers go through, as she gives us many antidotes from her personal experience with her mother. In this book, we learn about communication at all stages of the disease, the causes of communication problems, and how to "run interference" or "identifying and dealing with the obstacles before they deal with us." We can't fix things; we can't make everything right for the person with Alzheimer's, but we can try to achieve better communication, realizing, as the author says in her epilogue: "It isn't easy for caregivers to find the words they want. Some days we succeed; other days we fall short of our goal. The important thing is that we're trying to improve communication. And that we keep on trying because we care."

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Guide
Review: "Finding the words" to communicate with someone who has Alzheimer's is a problem-- especially after many words have lost their meanings to that person. Harriet Hodgson, the daughter of an Alzheimer's patient, has done an excellent job in giving us a guidebook for communicating in the daily struggle all caregivers go through, as she gives us many antidotes from her personal experience with her mother. In this book, we learn about communication at all stages of the disease, the causes of communication problems, and how to "run interference" or "identifying and dealing with the obstacles before they deal with us." We can't fix things; we can't make everything right for the person with Alzheimer's, but we can try to achieve better communication, realizing, as the author says in her epilogue: "It isn't easy for caregivers to find the words they want. Some days we succeed; other days we fall short of our goal. The important thing is that we're trying to improve communication. And that we keep on trying because we care."

Rating:
Summary: A great book on Alzheimers
Review: A communication guide for those who care for people with Alzheimer's. It provides sensitive and practical advice regarding how to detect Alzheimer's, how to cope with the personality changes and deteriorating communication skills that are symptoms of this disease, and how to care for yourself through this difficult process. This book was written by the author in response to a need she felt while caring for her mother with Alzheimer's. It is filled with personal anecdotes and interviews. Clear, well organized, insightful and easy to understand this book models that of which it writes: good communication.

Rating:
Summary: not one of the best
Review: I may have read too many books on Alzheimer's but this book was not as encouraging or as informative and many of the others I have read.

Rating:
Summary: For patients in the advanced stages
Review: This book will probably be helpful to me later, but because it deals more with patients in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, it's not helpful in my situation. Perhaps the problem is with the description or title of the book as I couldn't tell the content until I'd bought it. I gave it 3 stars because it is probably good for latter-stage patient care-givers.