Comprehension of metaphorical explanations of illness

58 children #opaged 7-8 years#cp and 52 children #opaged 10-11 years#cp were each read a short description of a child with a chronic disease #opeither cancer or diabetes#cp. Information about the disease was either in a simple medical form, or explained the illness in terms of a metaphor. Older children understood the information better than younger children regardless of the form of the information. Younger children were only marginally helped by presenting information in a metaphorical form.