Pediatric Neuropsychology: Medical Advances and Lifespan Outcomes

Major advances in the understanding and treatment of childhood medical disorders have contributed to markedly improved survival and reduced morbidity compared with outcomes in earlier medical care eras. As a consequence, children whose prognosis was once severe impairment or early mortality are surviving to adulthood, often facing a wide range of neuropsychological late effects. Pediatric Neuropsychology: Medical Advances and Lifespan Outcomes brings together highly respected and experienced researchers and clinicians in a volume that reviews many of these medical and psychological advances and their impact on neuropsychological development. The volume covers disorders for which neuropsychological development was previously not considered an area of likely compromise or one that would change the typical neuropsychological trajectory (chronic kidney disease, congenital heart disease, liver disease) as well as the latest updates on children with established risk of neuropsychological compromise (e.g. autism spectrum disorders, brain tumors, cerebral palsy, human immunodeficiency virus, leukemia, childhood onset multiple sclerosis, neonatal encephalopathy, phenylketonuria, preterm birth, sickle cell disease, spina bifida, and traumatic brain injury). These discussions of disorders are supplemented by important chapters that address the wider societal impact of pediatric medical disorders and associated neuropsychological issues. These chapters focus on the impact of improved rates of survival on provision of mandated services within the elementary and post-secondary educational settings, on changes in statistical methodology and analyses that influence today's interpretation of research reports, and on the importance of maintaining a developmental focus regarding transitioning to adult health care, with lifelong implications for survival to older adulthood becoming a relatively newer area of training and practice.