Abstract - Kaldenberg & Saletta

Science Text Support Modifications for Postsecondary Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Abstract: Erica Kaldenberg and Meredith Saletta are planning to conduct two studies spanning two
laboratories to address the need of educational materials which are appropriate for adults
with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). Most existing educational materials at
the college level are too complex at word and sentence level to be accessible to these
learners, yet more students are enrolling in postsecondary education programs at college
campuses. We propose to modify existing college-level science texts in order to make them
accessible for students with IDD attending a postsecondary education program. We will
determine which factors, including sentence length, manipulations of modality and use of
picture support best facilitate comprehension and reading fluency. We will recruit
participants via the UI Realizing Educational and Career Hopes (REACH) program. This project
is particularly important from a clinical standpoint as these materials can be relevant in terms
of introducing and exploring relevant content and from an educational research perspective
as these data would provide insight on effective text supports for adults with IDD.