Reading assessment post head injury: how valid is it?

The purpose of this study was to identify the passage dependency for three reading tests applied to the closed head injured (CHI) population and to determine whether reading the passage resulted in improved accuracy in responding to passage-related questions. Based on the performance of 10 CHI adults, passage dependency was low for all three tests. Only the Reading Comprehension Battery for Aphasia scores improved significantly when the subjects read the passages prior to responding. The results parallel those found with aphasic subjects and raise questions concerning the validity of these tests in assessing communication dysfunction post-CHI.