Communication across the Lifespan

by Susan Shaw, Ailsa Haxell, Terry Weblemoe

Communication Across the Lifespan combines communication and lifespan development, in order to equip students entering health, disability and related fields with the skills they need to engage effectively with people of all ages and life experiences. The book gives a sound introduction to the essential concepts of therapeutic communication across the lifespan within the New Zealand environment, and is informed by current issues and debate, designed to encourage critical thinking and reflection. Health and wellness issues are covered from the perspective of patients and professionals which enable students to hear what patients say and to explore their own lived experience of health and illness.

396 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2012

About the author

I was born in a log cabin in Illinois - no that wasn't me!

I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, grew up outside of Philadelphia with two parents, along with a wild assortment of brothers and sisters and cats and dogs. I did things like take music lessons and play relievo or baseball in the sideyard with the neighborhood kids. Went to school, which I really hated, but somehow managed to get through anyway. I was smart, but, boy, you couldn't tell it by my grades.

Well, maybe I didn't do my homework, but I read. If it didn't move, I read it. Chances are, I wrote about it, too, in the diary I kept all through my childhood. I've heard that that's called taking notes.

Eventually, despite engaging in various activities called play that periodically involved knocking myself out, I grew up. This much amazed my grandmother who said I lived a charmed life.

After graduating from Radnor High School, I attended Temple University, graduating with a music education degree. During my college years, I met my husband, a young man named John with a cute smile and a wonderful sense of humor. I married him quick before he had a chance to get away. Ah, young love! Since that time, we've had one adventure after another together, raising children, one daughter and two sons, and our love is still young. Despite John's gray hair, he still looks twenty years old to me.

What do I do when I'm not writing? Visit friends, ride my bike, sometimes with John, sometimes not. Hiking. I love to attend plays, too. Some of my recent favorites: Doubt, The Drowsy Chaperone, Eggs.