How to create accessible research summaries for the developmental language disorder community

Area of Science:

• Implementation Science
• Communication Sciences
• Disability Studies

Background:

• Medical research often goes unused due to poor communication with stakeholders.
• Individuals affected by research should have accessible research findings.
• Plain language summaries enhance accessibility for individuals with communication disorders, but guidelines for the developmental language disorder (DLD) community are lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop evidence-informed guidelines for creating plain language summaries accessible to the DLD community.
• To provide a framework for researchers to effectively communicate DLD research findings.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized existing plain language summary guidelines and identified barriers for the DLD community.
• Developed guidelines for written, visual, audio, and video summaries.
• Consulted with an adult with DLD, an implementation scientist, and a speech-language pathologist.

Main Results:

• Publicly available guidelines with templates, examples, and style suggestions are provided at https://osf.io/ydkw9.
• Guidelines encourage strengths-based language, non-expert feedback, and social media dissemination.
• An online repository is established for sharing plain language summaries through DLD advocacy groups.

Conclusions:

• Plain language summaries facilitate research dissemination, implementation, and impact within the DLD community.
• These summaries empower individuals with DLD to understand research, engage with services, and co-design future studies.
• Future research should explore community and researcher perspectives on guideline implementation.