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Executive Functioning: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinical Practice is the first book to offer an in-depth, comprehensive, and clinically applicable analysis of executive functioning (EF), as contrasted with “frontal-lobe functioning.” Throughout the book, care is taken to stay true to the EF construct, and to use function, not structure, as the organizing framework. The book is organized into four parts. The first part provides a brief overview of historical, theoretical, and clinical influences on how the construct has been conceptualized, studied, and ultimately defined. Part II describes five subdomains of EF, including Executive Cognitive Functions, Meta-tasking, Response Selection, Initiation/Maintenance, and Social Cognition. For each subdomain, the book reviews contributing elemental neurocognitive processes, neuroanatomic underpinnings, the utility of the subdomain in execution of daily tasks, as well as associated clinical syndromes. For each syndrome, cognitive and personality changes in daily life, as well as presentation during neuropsychological assessment, are described, and typical clinical populations characterized by each syndrome are briefly reviewed. Part III describes assessment methods, addressing both challenges and solutions in the neuropsychological evaluations of EF. An integration of information across record review, clinical interview, behavioral observation, and standardized assessment is advocated, as is consideration of assessment results within the contextual complexities of a given patient. Lastly, Part IV provides an overview of populations that are characterized by deficiencies in EF, with a chapter each devoted to neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as acquired brain insults and medical conditions.

Suchy, Y. (2015). Executive Functioning: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinical Practice. New York: Oxford University Press.

Courts recognize that those who are involved in medico-legal proceedings have a stake in the outcome of their psychological assessment, regardless of whether they are high- or low-functioning individuals. Accounting for the validity of the evaluation in low-functioning examinees is frequently made more difficult by impairment; when evaluating testimony from people with intellectual disability (ID), neuropsychologists and psychologists must acknowledge the differences between the medico-legal evaluation and the clinical evaluation. This book provides helpful guidelines for assessing validity in low-functioning claimants. It charts recent advances in psychological and neuropsychological assessment pertaining to civil and criminal proceedings while examining issues such as validity and motivation, assessments of disability, criminal and civil capacities, capital cases, Miranda waiver cases, and others.

In disability cases, the Social Security Administration has had a long-standing policy that prevents neuropsychologists and psychologists from using validity instruments–yet, using this book, an accurate and valid assessment can still be obtained. Evaluators who perform assessments in capital cases will find up-to-date discussions of the Flynn Effect, measurement of intellectual functioning, problems associated with the assessment of adaptive functioning, and the challenge of validity assessment. Miranda waiver evaluations for those with low IQ are discussed concerning issues of capacity measurement, including reading and language analysis for the Miranda advisement in the particular jurisdiction in question. Testamentary capacity is discussed at length, showing how understanding of the legal standard is helpful in guiding the examination. Competency to stand trial, or adjudicative competence, is the main topic in the area of criminal competencies, with exploration of the Dusky standard and the various tests used to evaluate this competence, focusing on individuals with ID.

Chafetz, M. (2015). Intellectual Disability: Criminal and Civil Forensic Issues. Oxford University Press.

Discussing Somatization in the Practice of Clinical Neuropsychology is written for neuropsychologists who wish to improve their ability to diagnose and treat, or recommend treatment for, patients with somatoform disorders. The author, a seasoned clinician, blends evidence-based recommendations with sound practical advice within a conceptual framework that helps neuropsychologists to understand and engage these challenging patients. A Continuing Education (CE) component administered by the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology is included, as is access to the author’s workshop presentation materials. The book will be of interest to those who work with or wish to gain insight into somatizing patients – neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, neurologists; post-doctoral fellows; graduate psychology students; and neuropsychologists who want to earn Continuing Education (CE) credit.

Lamberty, G. J. (2007). Discussing somatization in the practice of clinical neuropsychology. Oxford University Press.

McCrea, M. (2008). Mild traumatic brain injury and postconcussion syndrome: The new evidence base for diagnosis and treatment. Oxford University Press.

This is the first neuropsychology book to translate exciting findings from the recent explosion of research on sport-related concussion to the broader context of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and post-concussive syndrome (PCS) in the general population. In addition, it includes a Continuing Education (CE) component administered by the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology.

Traumatic brain injuries constitute a major global public health problem, but until now, MTBIs, which constitute up to 90 percent of all treated TBIs, have been difficult to evaluate and manage clinically because of the absence of a viable model. Dr. McCrea’s book thus provides a welcome evidence base for all clinicians – including psychologists, neuropsychologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, rehabilitation medicine physicians, physiatrists, and nurses – involved in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of MTBI, as well as attorneys involved in personal injury litigation and personal injury defense. Each section of the book ends with a helpful summary of the ‘Top 10 Conclusions.’

This book provides essential information about the variety of seizure disorders and serves as a basic epilepsy reference guide for students and practicing clinical neuropsychologists. In addition to epilepsy neuropsychological assessment issues, the book provides an overview of the known cognitive effects of seizures as well as the adaptive, emotional, and psychiatric consequences of epilepsy including a chapter on psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Diagnostic tests, such as EEG and structural neuroimaging, are described and the leading treatment options are detailed with a chapter on pharmacologic therapies which reviews the known cognitive and behaivoral side effects of specific antiepileptic drugs. Many of the more rare epilepsy disorders have been included in the appendices for quick and easy reference.

The book also details the role of neuropsychology within the epilepsy surgery process including pre-and post-surgery cognitive evaluations, cortical stimulation mapping, functional neuroimaging, and intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) procedures and reviews the major surgical treatment options used in the intractable epilepsies. Case examples are dispersed throughout the text with neuropsychological results as heuristic aids. The book concludes with a glossary of epilepsy terms.

Lee, G. P. (2010). Neuropsychology of epilepsy and epilepsy surgery. Oxford University Press.