Symbolated texts as an assistive technology: Exploring the impact on reading comprehension

Area of Science:

• Assistive Technology Research
• Special Education
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Symbolated texts, pairing graphics with words, are widely assumed to aid individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in accessing written content.
• Despite their common use as an assistive technology, empirical evidence supporting improved reading comprehension with symbolated texts is scarce.
• Research on beginning readers indicates that images can impede reading comprehension and growth by diverting attention from text.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of symbolated text on the reading comprehension abilities of individuals with IDD.
• To determine if graphic symbols enhance or detract from text accessibility for this population.

Main Methods:

• Utilized objective measures to assess reading comprehension.
• Employed reading-level matched texts, with and without graphic symbols.
• Analyzed comprehension scores, reading rates, and the relationship between reading rate and comprehension.

Main Results:

• Individuals with IDD demonstrated significantly lower reading comprehension scores when using symbolated texts compared to traditional texts.
• The inclusion of graphic symbols led to a significant decrease in reading speed.
• A negative correlation was observed between reading rate and reading comprehension scores in the symbolated text condition.

Conclusions:

• Symbolated texts may not enhance, and could potentially decrease, content accessibility for individuals with IDD.
• The widespread use of graphic symbols in texts for this population warrants re-evaluation.
• Producers of educational materials for individuals with IDD should exercise caution regarding the integration of graphic symbols with text.