This book is the culmination of a research program conducted in Colombia
during the past several years. The fundamental aim of the program was to
develop neuropsychological tests for Spanish speakers, especially
elderly individuals and those with limited edu- cational attainment. The
lack of norms for these populations repre- sents a significant practical
problem not only in developing countries but also in more developed
countries. For example, norms are usually obtained with middle-class
Anglo-Saxon English-speaking popula- tions, often university students,
and such norms do not usually include individuals older than 65 years.
Furthermore, very few neuro- psychological tests have been developed for
Spanish speakers; fre- quently, tests are translated into Spanish (often
poor translations at that), but the norms used are still those obtained
from English- speaking populations. This volume summarizes the normative
results of this research program. We anticipate that these tests and
norms will be particularly useful in the neuropsychological evaluation
of Spanish speakers, especially those with limited educational
attainment, and the elderly. The United States represents the fifth
largest Spanish-speaking coun- try in the world (after Mexico, Spain,
Argentina, and Colombia), with over 20 million speakers. It is
anticipated that by the year 2025 there will be as many Hispanics in the
United States as members of all other ethnic minority groups combined.
Further, about 10% of the U. S. population are considered functionally
illiterate, with Hispanics rep- resenting an unusually large segment.