Brill's "Alzheimer's Disease" for young people

The Marshall Cavendish Corporation has produced a series of books I discovered in substituting in a Plant City middle school. While the media specialist talked with the eighth graders about primary sources, I discovered a secondary source library book. The books in the 616 section of the library by this publisher included: Asthma, Depression, Heart Disease, Juvenile Diabetes, Lung Cancer and Alzheimer ’s Disease.

While the two children’s books I reviewed earlier here (The Memory Box and What's Happening to Grandpa) are helpful, Marlene Targ Brill’s Alzheimer’s Disease is a 2005 copyright book with much helpful information for grades six and older. We need this book to help our young people understand dementia. Mrs. Brill carefully covers the basics of the disease in 57 pages with a glossary, organizations and other references that follow.

Chapter 1 What Is It Like to Have Alzheimer’s Disease? Adam has grandmother with it and Jose’s grandfather has it. This chapter gets the young person into the topic. I do find many young people in middle school and high school are acquainted with Alzheimer's and at times I am able to talk about my husband's illness and the illness of their relatives.

Chapter 2 What is Alzheimer’s Disease? In a simple way Brill explains plaques, tangles, who might get AD, what are warming signs, how is it diagnosed, and what are the stages. This chapter has a picture of an EEG, a CAT scan and an MRI. She does not deal with two areas: 1) dementia distinctions (Alzheimer’s is the most common dementia); and 2) the latest research, although she does hint at studies in chapter four.

Chapter 3 The History of Alzheimer’s Disease. In 1907 German physician Alois Alzheimer was first to discover the disease. The section on new discoveries are not so relevant, but we do need budding young scientists to dream of cures for dementia, cancer and other diseases. Science and medicine can come alive for young people.

Chapter 4 Dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease. Cholinesterase inhibitors are described, but not Namenda. The suggestion is that aspirin might prevent AD. Old information is in the book; for example, ginkgo biloba is heralded:

Studies in the United States have shown that the extract improves thinking, memory, and behavior in people who have AD ( p. 44).

However, this is not true as Science Daily points out here. The moss extract huperzine A and fat from cow brains are also mentioned as possible help. Huperzine A has been used in China for centuries, and I found this resource here. What about fat from cow brains or hospatidylserine? The Mayo Clinic says some about this here.  However, improvements in memory lasted only a few months and were seen in people with the least severe symptoms.

The next sections, “Helping the Person with Alzheimer’s” and “Helping Caregivers” provide general reliable information, but of course more can be added—the benefits of exercise and socialization, for example.

With the exception of the outdated research in chapter four, I highly recommend this book for a young person and hope the publishers will revise it.

On another note, I am considering advertising books I have reviewed here or will review on this blog. Some reviews I already put on Amazon.  Advertisement could help provide income for a blog that I work hard at providing as I take this Alzheimer's journey with my husband and with others. What do you think, gentle reader? Feedback needed. Thanks. Advertise?

Also, thanks to you all who helped support the team I was on for today's November 3, 2012 Alzheimer's Association Walk around Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland, Florida. Funds will still be collected on this blog for two more weeks. You can contribute with the link at the top right until November 17th.

If you have "liked" Plant City Lady and Friends on Facebook (top right), you can see pictures of my facilitator "Ann" and our friends "Sally and Jake" and my husband and myself.

Books on What to Tell Children About Alzheimer's

How can you explain the changes Alzheimer's brings to a grandparent to children? Two children's books help.

In The Memory Box, by Mary Bahr, published in 1992, Zach tells the story of visiting his grandparents for three weeks on summer break. He looks forward to fishing with Gramps and eating Gram's cooking.

One night early in the visit Gramps tells about a memory box that his father, Great Gramps, had given Gramps. The idea is that an old person and a young person fill the box together so that "no matter what happens to the old person, the memories are saved forever." The three characters decide to make a memory box for Zach and Gramps. Pictures, a recipe and written stories are put in the blox. More will be added.

One day, on a walk Zach notices changes with Gramps. "That day it seemed like his body walked with me, but his thoughts strolled somewhere else." Another day Gramps wanders off without shoes. When found, Grams explains, "The mind doesn't go all at once, or all the time, but it never comes back the same way."

At the end of the visit Zach was sent home with the memory box to add things to it for the next summer when he would come back.

Maria Shriver has written What's Happening to Grandpa? published in 2004. The book is about a girl named Kate who was taught "always, always to stick up for your family." Kate's family always visited the grandparents on Sundays, and one Sunday Kate noticed that Grandpa kept repeating the same storeis and didn't remember what he had done earlier in the day. Kate notices when her Grandpa gets angry because he can't find something and he yells at Grandma. Kate asks her mother about this behavior and finds out that he has Alzheimer's. Mom tells her he will begin to forget more and more and says

That's why it's so important to cherish who he is today.

One Sunday Kate chooses to be with her Grandpa instead of with her friends. She explains to them: "Alzheimer's is when you lose your memory. You get confused and ask the same things over and over. It starts slow and gets worse with time." That Sunday Kate works with her Grandfather to make an album of pictures. She writes down what he tells her.  

_________________________________

Character Shawn, a disabled young person in Stuck in Neutal by Terry Truman, writes:

Memory is all we have, for ourselves and for the people we love. The memories of us, once we die, are all that's left of us.

For the believer, there is more; life in heaven awaits where there will be no more Alzheimer's. Meanwhile there are grandchildren  who need simple answers that these two pictured books provide. They can cherish the memories of grandparents while there is opportunity.