The author states that this book was written for a target audience of school psychologists, child psychologists, and educators. The intent of the book is to provide this audience with a knowledge base for traumatic brain injury, including basic neuroanatomy, sequelae of TBI, assessment practices, family issues, and interventions. One may presume from various hints that the author's primary purpose, in fact, is to provide school psychologists with the know-how to provide much-needed services to the students in their schools who do not have access to pediatric neuropsychologists. With this goal in mind, the menu includes an appetizer of neuroanatomy, a first course of assessment tools, and a second course of school reintegration and intervention strategies.

The most valuable chapters are those on school reentry for the child who has experienced TBI, and on classroom interventions. These chapters clearly reflect the author's real-world expertise and her extensive knowledge of what pitfalls can occur and what needs to happen. These chapters contain a compilation of observations and recommendations that would be quite beneficial not only for the school or child psychologist, but also for the novice pediatric neuropsychologist who has extensive “book knowledge” of neurological conditions and experience in testing but has not yet obtained the experience of translating findings from a neuropsychological evaluation to useful recommendations. This part of training in neuropsychology is the least formalized aspect of interpretation and report-writing. Faculty in neuropsychology may find these two chapters a nicely organized reference to train their students in how to think about the needs of children with learning disabilities and other neurological conditions, as well as children with TBI.

Prior to these chapters, important concepts float to the surface as hearty morsels in a soup. If the less experienced clinician (presumably the target audience) is not aware of their value, they may be missed. It is truly unfortunate that these valuable morsels are not emphasized, or perhaps presented in a more systematic manner. For example, the author mentions the potential for cognitive difficulties even when hospital staff predict a child will have a “good recovery.” This fact is important for clinicians to recognize, but the concept appears in an isolated sentence in an introductory section on demographics of TBI. This “by the way” phenomenon occurs throughout the first four chapters.

The intent of the lengthy chapter on assessment is somewhat confusing. The author states several times that her purpose is to help clinicians who are not trained in neuropsychology (mentioning school psychologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech pathologists as consumers) to employ useful assessment instruments available to them. In this chapter, the author cautions the reader that the use of most neuropsychological batteries is “generally beyond the level of the specialist in school psychology” (p. 59). Nevertheless, lists of tests, test descriptions, and information on how they can be interpreted as isolated elements of a neuropsychological evaluation are offered. An appendix provides publisher information, presumably for purchasing the tests. It appears that the author is cautioning traditional school psychologists against practicing beyond their training and simultaneously advocating that they do so, using the information that this book provides.

Furthermore, the fundamental information on neuroanatomy and the neurocognitive effects of TBI contained in this book is worrisome. For example, the solitary figure depicting a midsagittal view of the brain does not label several of the diencephalic structures that are presented in the text, so the reader would be required to find another book if seriously interested in their locations. Contradictory facts exist in several places, so the reader may not be certain, for example, if complete recovery in adults with TBI occurs in the first 6 to 9 months (p. 9) or in the first 18 months (p. 32), or if it is receptive language (p. 6) or expressive language (p. 12) that should be understood as the most vulnerable language function. Additionally, some facts could be misinterpreted out of context, such as the author's statement implying that advanced executive functioning is a type of intellectual function (p. 31). It would not be seriously troubling to know that a neuropsychologist in training will read this book along with many others, but to think that this book might be the only training mechanism for school personnel is disconcerting. Because of its focus on school reentry, this book could be a valuable addition to an existing library on understanding the interface between neuropsychological findings and the school setting. It would not suffice as the primary reference in the office of a school psychologist.