ABSTRACT
There are two major limitations in previous research concerning macro level discourse processing in pediatric TBI. First, the discourse tasks were not specifically designed to require macro level processing. For example, the discourse tasks asked for verbal and written retells rather than summaries (Brookshire et aI., 2000; Chapman et aI., 1992; Chapman et aI., 1998; Chapman, Levin, Matejka, Harward, & Kufera, 1995; Chapman, Watkins, et aI., 1997; Yorkston, et aI., 1997; Yorkston, Jaffe, Liao, & Polissar, 1999). Second, the discourse tasks utilized brief narrative texts that placed minimal demands on condensing information (Ulatowska & Chapman, 1994). In fact, short texts are harder to reduce and transform because the information is already condensed.
