Video-blogs and linguistic simplification for students with intellectual disability.
Inmaculada Fajardo, Vicenta Ávila, Pablo Delgado and 2 others
PMID 35722873WHAT IT FOUND
Video blogs and simplified wording did not improve comprehension over text blogs and original wording in 14 young adults with intellectual disability.
Their reading comprehension skill predicted understanding, and they overestimated how much they learned.
Key findings
01Overall, neither video format nor simplified wording changed comprehension accuracy; participants answered around 55% of questions correctly across conditions.
02Participants' prior reading comprehension skill predicted comprehension accuracy, with higher skill associated with higher accuracy.
03Participants expected to answer 80% of questions correctly but achieved around 55%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 14 participants were analysed, so the study may have missed real effects of video format or simplification. Participants were recruited from one vocational training program in Spain, and two study authors worked there, so results may not generalise. The blog materials were created by the authors and simplified following guidelines, so their quality and naturalness may differ from everyday online content. Sessions were conducted online during lockdown, participants could be aided by parents, and re-reading or re-watching behaviour was not recorded. Comprehension questions were not always able to separate literal and inferential questions in simplified items.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities and the European Social Fund, with a University of Valencia predoctoral grant. Two co-authors worked as teachers in the vocational training program where participants were recruited. No separate conflicts-of-interest declaration is given in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that video or simplified wording makes learning easier for young adults with intellectual disability. The study did not find a difference between video and text formats or between simplified and original wording, and comprehension accuracy was around 55% across conditions.