Learning to Speak Alzheimer's: A Groundbreaking Approach for Everyone Dealing with the Disease [Paperback]

Joanne Koenig Coste (Author), Robert Butler (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2004

More than four million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and as many as twenty million have close relatives or friends with the disease. Revolutionizing the way we perceive and live with Alzheimer’s, Joanne Koenig Coste offers a practical approach to the emotional well-being of both patients and caregivers that emphasizes relating to patients in their own reality. Her accessible and comprehensive method, which she calls habilitation, works to enhance communication between carepartners and patients and has proven successful with thousands of people living with dementia. Learning to Speak Alzheimer’s also offers hundreds of practical tips, including how to · cope with the diagnosis and adjust to the disease’s progression · help the patient talk about the illness · face the issue of driving · make meals and bath times as pleasant as possible · adjust room design for the patient’s comfort · deal with wandering, paranoia, and aggression

Editorial Reviews

Review

After a major stroke left her husband paralyzed, unable to speak, and with significant progressive memory loss, Coste became his caregiver while raising four children. Refusing to institutionalize him, she developed a humanistic approach to caregiving ("habilitation") that focuses on enhancing the individual's remaining functional, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual abilities by creating a positive atmosphere that promotes feelings of success. Key elements of Coste's approach include simplifying the environment for the patient, capitalizing on his or her remaining skills, and making an effort to understand what life must be like for the memory impaired. Because such Alzheimer's behaviors as agitation and physical aggression are often rooted in frustration, she also offers caregivers techniques to help patients compensate for cognitive and sensory losses. Such methods include devising a daily routine filled with activities, physical exercise, snacks, and chores to reduce difficult behaviors and promote a good night's sleep. Directions for simple activities, recipes for nutritious "finger foods," and tips for hiring home caregivers are included. The level of care and involvement Coste describes is intense and may not be practical for all caregivers, but most activities can be modified to fit individual situations. A fine addition to Alzheimer's and caregiving collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/03.] Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.  (Library Journal )

About the Author

Joanne Koenig Coste, a nationally recognized expert and an outspoken advocate for patient and family care, is a board member of the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Currently in private practice as an Alzheimer's family therapist, Koenig Coste also serves as president of Alzheimer's Consulting Associates. She lectures around the country and is the recipient of a National Award for Health Heroes from Reader's Digest. She was named a "Woman to Watch in the 21st Century" by NBC Nightly News

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (September 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618485171
• ISBN-13: 978-0618485178
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Nervous System

More About the Author

Joanne Koenig Coste, a nationally recognized expert and an outspoken advocate for patient and family care, is a board member of the American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Currently in private practice as an Alzheimer's family therapist, Koenig Coste also serves as president of Alzheimer's Consulting Associates. She lectures around the country and is the recipient of a National Award for Health Heroes from Reader's Digest. She was named a "Woman to Watch in the 21st Century" by NBC Nightly News.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hanging on for dear life, December 7, 2004

By 

texellence "texellence" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning to Speak Alzheimer's: A Groundbreaking Approach for Everyone Dealing with the Disease (Hardcover)

If you are experiencing this disease with a loved one, then you know the loneliness and frustration of trying to be all the person you care for needs. My sister bought this book, read it overnight, highlighted and post-it tabbed the most important parts, mailed it to me priority mail, and i have used it at night as a touchstone for salvation. It is indeed a bible for HOW to treat your loved one. I use it to get what I need to know in terms of sensitivity to what my cared for relative needs. I would be lost without it...it will help keep you on a path of the right relationship with your loved one that you will want to live up to. I promise you ,read it, highlight it, and you will not ever look back and regret anything you did, if you follow its advice. A true gift.

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The person with Alzheimer's come first, not the symptoms, November 22, 2003

By 

Daniel Kuhn (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning to Speak Alzheimer's: A Groundbreaking Approach for Everyone Dealing with the Disease (Hardcover)

Those new to Alzheimer's disease will find this book to be a helpful guide. Even those who are familar with caring for someone with the disease will find nuggets of wisdom in the middle section, "The Five Tenets of Habilitation." It is here where Joanne Koenig Coste is at her best in describing how to preserve the personhood of those with dementia. This section alone makes the entire book worthwhile. It's about time Joanne put her thoughts into a book--she has been helping people navigate their way through the choppy waters of Alzheimer's for over 20 years!

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read along w/ Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Book for a well rounded view, August 12, 2007

By 

gilly8 "gilly8" (Mars, the hotspot of the U.S.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learning to Speak Alzheimer's: A Groundbreaking Approach for Everyone Dealing with the Disease (Paperback)

This is a very readable book written by the wife of a man who developed Alzheimer's disease at a young age, when their children ranged from infancy to age 12. She taught herself to cope with his condition, and now lectures and advocates for the patients, the caretakers of the patients, and their families. The book is strong on the day to day care of the demented patients, how to help them stay engaged with the world, how to help them retain speech and their remaining abilities as long as possible. She sees them as people for as long as they live, and wants their families, caretakers and society to see them that way too. It is very strong in its compassion and loving good heartedness, and in seeing these demented, often paranoid, confused, sometimes combative persons as the person he or she once was, not as they seem to be now.
She brings up excellent points: that no longer do experts try to bring the disoriented or confused person "back to reality", for example, if a patient thinks her father who died in 1950 visited her don't argue or try to "re-orient" her on this subject. It is not worth upsetting the person, has no long term value, and needlessly confuses and worries the person. The same with combative behavior, in most cases a change in subject, or distraction, rather than physical over powering or medical sedation is better,more kind and gentle, and keeping a log of what triggers such behavior can defuse it in the future.
This book does have some problems for me, as a caretaker for a parent with early dementia. The author seems to assume the caretaker has no other job, or life for that matter, and that there are others to pitch in and help with the caretaking chores, and funds to hire helpers. Some of her suggestions, the long leisurely breakfasts, rides in the country, reviewing old scrapbooks, or retraining the person with little games she provides (which sound excellent by the way) are frustrating for the caregiver whose time is limited by constraints of work or another family's needs as well. There is enough guilt in this caretaking situation without having to deal with chapters headed: "Enrich the Patient's Life".
Nevertheless, it is a very good book and its consistant re-focus on the humanity of the patient makes it stand out among books of its kind.
I'd pair it with the book "Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer Disease" which goes much more thoroughly into the aspect of dementia as an illness, what goes wrong in the brain and body, current medications, testing, and so on---this book does not cover those areas. I do recommend it, but not as my first recommendation among these books but paired with the Mayo Clinic book I think you'd have a good set for knowledge of and caretaking skills of the dementing illnesses.