Cognition and Occupation Across the Life Span

Cognition is central to everyday life. It is impossible to live independently without higher order functions of planning, organization, attention, memory, and awareness. Problems with these functions are seen in many clients treated by occupational therapists. Individuals with higher order cognitive impairments require specific strategies that are central to occupation-based, client-centered care to maintain themselves, interact in families, work, go to school, and actively engage in community life. Occupational therapists' focus on learning and cognition as it supports everyday life is what defines the profession's uniqueness in its approach to care.

This is a must-have book for both the classroom and the clinic that will help occupational therapy professionals understand behaviors, translate cognitive neuroscience into practice, and figure out how to tell parents and caregivers what has happened to their loved ones and then how to best support their behaviors to achieve successful performance and participation in their daily lives. The authors have translated the latest cognitive neuroscience developments into interventions that occupational therapists can use to enhance the performance and quality of life of those they serve.

--Adapted from the Foreword by M. Carolyn Baum, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA