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What is “Aphasia-Friendly” About Aphasia-Friendly Materials? A Sandbox Series Presentation
Poster Session D, Thursday, October 1, 4:30 - 6:30 pm, Wangari Maathai
This poster is part of the Sandbox Series.
Deborah Levy1,2, Anna Kasdan3; 1Princeton University, 2Indiana University Bloomington, 3Independent Consultant
Recent efforts have focused on including aphasia-friendly versions of language neuroscience papers alongside the traditional published works [1,2]. Although some papers describe best practices for creating aphasia-friendly materials—drawing primarily upon commonly used approaches in clinical and group settings [3,4]—there is little empirical research into which components of those materials carry the most communicative weight. A better understanding of what constitutes aphasia-friendly materials is important for both clinical and scientific reasons: clinically, because we want people with aphasia to have access to high-quality information, and scientifically, because we want to understand more about how disorders of language affect the processing of visual and linguistic information. In this Sandbox Series presentation, we describe an ongoing research effort to learn more about the specific aspects of aphasia-friendly research materials that are (a) most helpful in aiding comprehension of research articles and (b) most preferred by individuals with aphasia. We plan to present forty participants with fourteen research abstracts in several distinct formats, varying in the presence of the following parameters (inspired by known open questions in the realm of aphasia-friendly materials): simplified language, keyword bolding, visual supplementation with relevant icons, and visual supplementation with relevant photographs [5,6]. Participants will also be presented with an original published abstract in an unaltered format. Abstract-format pairings will be randomized across participants. Comprehension questions, as well as questions about reader experience, will be administered to participants along with each abstract. After all abstracts have been presented, participants will rank the abstracts from most to least preferred in terms of reader experience. Drawing on this data, we will build a regression model, accounting for aphasia severity as measured by WAB-AQ or QAB Overall score, to predict the ratings and preferences of people with aphasia. We hope that the resulting data will inform evidence-based recommendations for how best to create aphasia-friendly content and further our understanding of how people with aphasia process complex information. References: [1] Levy et al. Perspect ASHA Spec Interest Groups 2022; 7: 1–11. [2] Casilio et al. Brain 2025; 1: 291–312. [3] Kasdan et al. Perspect ASHA Spec Interest Groups 2025; 10: 719–27. [4] Hinckley, El-Khouri. J Commun Disord 2023; 104: 106338. [5] Rose et al. Int J Speech-Lang Pathol 2012; 14: 11–23. [6] Wilson, Read Int J Lang Commun Disord 2016; 51: 346–54.
Topic Areas: Disorders: Acquired, Development of Resources, Software, Educational Materials, etc.