Do images aid learning of Easy Read health information for people with intellectual disabilities? A cognitive load perspective

BACKGROUND: This pilot study explored whether including images in Easy Read materials improves health information learning by people with intellectual disabilities, compared to text-only formats. METHOD: Nine adults with intellectual disabilities who could read simple English independently, participated in two sessions. In each session, participants answered and were scored on knowledge-check questions about a health topic before and after reading Easy Read information containing either images or no images. Participants were also interviewed on the learning strategies they used. RESULTS: Including images in Easy Read did not result in significantly better performance on learning scores, though scores were substantially more variable when images were not included. Interview data indicated that participants considered images to be an important part of the reading experience. CONCLUSION: This study provides preliminary guidance on how Easy Read materials can be formatted to improve people with intellectual disabilities' comprehension of written health information.