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Talking to Alzheimer's: Simple Ways to Connect When You Visit with a Family Member or Friend


by Claudia J. Strauss

List Price: $14.95
Price: $10.17
You Save: $4.78 (32%)
Available: Usually ships in 24 hours
Sales Rank: 92210
Studio: New Harbinger Publications
Binding: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 168
Publication Date: January 09, 2002
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications


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EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Amazon.com
Few books manage to balance practical suggestions and loving sympathy as well as Talking to Alzheimer's, a concise and comprehensive guide to communication with both paid caregivers and their patients. While the title suggests focus on a specific disease, the recommendations are appropriate for any family struggling with serious communication issues, whether those issues are the result of stroke, surgery, disease, or an accident.

Much of the book discusses methods of easing conversation during visits, as well as ways to manage the emotions that can surface in difficult times. From asking open-ended questions like, "How did your day go?" to gently reintroducing yourself to lifelong friends, the pointers here are written with kindness, and they focus on maintaining dignity for all involved. Short sections include tips on involving children in your visits and a welcome list of resources that spans organizations, Web sites, and additional books; this straightforward advice even includes expected response time to Web site inquiries. Instead of an index, you'll find a list of topics, so you can find immediate answers on "ending a conversation" and "when to insist."

One lengthy chapter covers the heartbreakers, such as dealing with refusals to eat or listening to tearful requests to be taken home. Author Claudia Strauss acknowledges the difficulty of these situations honestly, while at the same time providing simple words that can help diffuse the issues and open the path for joyful visits that benefit everyone involved. --Jill Lightner



CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 14 reviews)

Excellent!  
Such a positive approach. This book really helped me connect with my mother who has alzheimer's and is in a nursing home. I felt that I was making her more comfortable with our visits and not as confused. Thank you, Claudia J. Strauss for your helpful suggestions.
September 07, 2007

Not relevant enough  
This book is basically a "feel good" book and doesn't address the grittiness of dementia/alzheimer disease. There are many of us whose loved ones/friends have become extremely hateful and vitriolic, and this book does nothing to give us some glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. "The 36-hour Day" is a much better and more comprehensive book.
April 14, 2007

Too much focus on what NOT to do  
There are not a lot of books out there that even attempt to help people learn how to talk to a person with Alzheimers. I was very happy to find this book at all since I have just begun working at a day center program for persons with Alzheimers and dementia. This book is full of practical advice on the many ways and reasons we talk to persons with dementia and in that way, the book is extremely valuable. However, the overall emphasis of the examples is on what NOT to do, which is very frustrating. One of the reasons people seek out such a book in the first place is that they have already had some communicative breakdown and they are looking for ways to fix it, not more lists of what not to do. We already know what doesn't work. We want to know what does work. That said, please know that there is a wonderful small section with a parallel list of Don'ts and Do's near the end of the book. That section is worth looking at.
January 03, 2007

A how to "Talking to Alzheimer"guide  
I first saw this book in the waiting room of a Dr. my mother was meeting with. I didn't have too much time to get into it then so I purchased it later and what a tremendous book, so easy to read and it had situations I am currenlty dealing with and the appropriate responses. I took it to my support group for caregivers and shared it with the group, some were going to purchase the next day. My thanks to Claudia Strauss for writing it!!
August 06, 2006

One of my "Must" readings for caregivers  
Dementia a disease that knows no boundaries. It is blind to the categories in which we usually place our fellow human beings. It can occur at the age of 55 or 85. It can happen to Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Christians, Muslims, males and females, rich and poor. It has not spared ex-presidents. I speak from personal experience. Dementia did not spare my mother whose 15 year journey into the opaque fog of this disease is told in my own recently published book. Tears are shed by husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters-in fact anyone responsible for the care of a loved one with dementia. TALKING TO ALZHEIMER'S will help all such caregivers to cope.

Robert Tell, Author of "DEMENTIA DIARY, A Care Giver's Journal"
April 16, 2006


SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Learning to Speak Alzheimer's: A Groundbreaking Approach for Everyone Dealing with the Disease
by Joanne Koenig Coste
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The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss in Later Life (3rd Edition)
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The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss in Later Life (4th Edition) (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)
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A Caregiver's Guide to Alzheimer's Disease: 300 Tips for Making Life Easier
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There's Still a Person in There: The Complete Guide to Treating and Coping with Alzheimer's
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