How to create accessible research summaries for the Developmental Language Disorder community
Authors: Gasparini Loretta , Ziegenfusz Shaun , Turner Natalie , Leitao Suze , St Clair Michelle , Jackson Emily 
Published: February 2024

Background: Eighty-five percent of medical research goes to waste, in part because it is not appropriately communicated to stakeholders. Individuals who are impacted by research should be able to readily access that research: an important step in making research impactful. Plain Language Summaries are a tool to make research more accessible to individuals with communication disorders. No guidelines exist to support researchers to develop Plain Language Summaries for the Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) community.Aim: We aimed to develop evidence-informed guidelines to support researchers to create Plain Language Summaries that are accessible for individuals with DLD, their families, and the broader community. Methods: We drew from existing Plain Language Summary guidelines for other populations and knowledge of barriers that may impact the DLD community’s ability to access scientific research. We used this knowledge to create guidelines for researchers to develop written, visual, audio, and video Plain Language Summaries of their research relating to DLD. We consulted with an adult with DLD, an implementation scientist, and a speech-language pathologist regarding the suitability of the guidelines.Main Contribution: The Plain Language Summary guidelines are available via https://osf.io/ydkw9/. They include suggestions for writing and visual styles, templates and examples. We encourage strengths-based language, seeking feedback from non-experts, and sharing the summaries on social media and via DLD advocacy groups.Conclusions: The Plain Language Summaries that researchers create using our guidelines can be used to disseminate research to the DLD community , maximising the impact of DLD research. The Plain Language Summaries may also help individuals with DLD better understand research that has been conducted about them. This may in turn empower them to make evidence-informed choices for themselves and partner in co-designing new research. Future research could explore the perspectives of the DLD community regarding the implementation of these guidelines.Plain language summary: A lot of research goes to waste. This is partly because researchers rarely share their results with the non-scientific community. People with communication disorders might find it hard to understand research papers. We made guidelines to help researchers explain their research to people with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We brought together existing advice on how to explain research in a clear way. We sought advice from people with different experiences and perspectives, including an adult with DLD. The guidelines are at https://osf.io/ydkw9/. The guidelines include advice on how to add pictures to research summaries. We also explain how to make a video or podcast summarising research. We encourage researchers to share their research summaries on social media. This means their research can reach more people and can make a difference. It is important that people with DLD understand DLD research. This might help them to understand their diagnosis and take part in future research.