Readability of Spanish Language Early Intervention Materials for Children who are D/deaf and Hard of Hearing

This paper discusses how accessibility to information may be limited for families and considers why this is of a critical concern for families using Spanish. To look at accessibility of materials online, six search terms were used in the Google search engine. Ninety-one unique websites were included for readability analysis (43 written in English and 48 written in Spanish). Readability was assessed for English materials using Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL; mean=12.83, sd=2.737) and Flesh-Kincaid Ease of Reading Score (FKERS; mean=35.602, sd=15.651). FKGL scores were consistent with prior work (Woodruff & Cienkowski, 2021). For materials written in Spanish readability was assessed using the Fernandez-Huerta (FH, mean=56.157, sd=9.44634). Using the FKERS and F-H allowed for comparisons since both use 100-point scales from easiest (100) to hardest (0) to read. In our sample, the average readability score was consistent with the reading skills needed to attend college (M = 46.44, SD =16.35; University of Canerbury, n.d.; Weise, 2006). A comparison found that English and Spanish materials were challenging to read and scores exceeded recommended guidelines. Further, materials written in English were significantly more difficult to read (p < .05) than those in Spanish. The implications of having a large amount of difficult-to-read information is discussed in the context of early intervention access so that readers can identify actionable steps to address this concern.