I began to value the fledging parts of the new me. I learned to use a new yardstick in an old world while others continued to measure my performance against their memory of me and weigh their losses (Osborn, 1998, p. 221)

In this quote from her book, Over My Head, Dr. Claudia Osborn reflects on her recovery from brain injury and the difficulty with adjusting to a new normal. Her description fits well with the themes throughout this issue of Topics in Language Disorders. Issue editor, Dr. Fofi Constantinidou, developed this issue "Concussion: Progress and Challenges in Identification, Assessment, and Management" and invited interdisciplinary authors to provide important content across a variety of topics as the title suggests. The authors explore concussion from a life span perspective across multiple rehabilitation phases to provide readers with information about short- and long-term effects of concussion.

First, Brown and Knollman-Porter (2019) provide a series of case studies that highlight the information clinicians can glean from self-reported and standardized assessment measures. The authors make suggestions for clinical practice based on the comparison of these measures. Next, Knollman-Porter, Hughes, and Constantinidou (2019) describe a university program aimed at investigating recovery patterns in college athletes with sports-related concussion. The authors compared neurocognitive and self-report measures of symptoms as well as considered the length of time athletes required to return to baseline on these measures. Elementary children, school-age children, and university students in the Republic of Cyprus are the focus of the Makri et al. (2019) article. The authors identified students with traumatic brain injury through administration of the Greek version of the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire. Next, within their article, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association and American Psychology Association Joint Committee on Interprofessional Relations highlight practices in assessment of people with mild traumatic brain injury (Mashima et al., 2019). Finally, O'Brien et al. (2019) present the results of a survey conducted to examine the differences between student and parent knowledge about concussion. These results highlight suggestions for future educational programs related to concussion.

In summary, the authors of this issue provide guidance to professionals regarding interprofessional practice for advocacy, identification, assessment, and management of concussion. Cultural considerations as well as methods for increasing collaboration among professionals are also described. Taken together, these recommendations for clinical practice and future research seek to improve the services provided to individuals affected with concussion.

-Gary A. Troia, PhD, CCC-SLP

Co-Editor

-Sarah E. Wallace, PhD, CCC-SLP

Co-Editor

REFERENCES