Project Aims
1. Improve access to the general education curriculum (GEC) and vocabulary instruction for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who struggle to understand text through reading or listening.
2. Refine a free parent and teacher tool, called the Maximizing Text Clarity with AI (MTC-AI) app. The MTC-AI app applies research-based guidelines to maximize clarity and identify important vocabulary to teach.
3. Provide comprehensive training and resources to support everyday use of the tool by parents, teachers, and other professionals.
The MTC Guidelines
Informed by research, the MTC Guidelines aim to maximize text clarity by making print materials understandable to people who read or listen with comprehension at or below a third-grade level, especially individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Guidelines and approach address the limitations of existing methods, apply research-based guidelines to decrease word, sentence, and text-level complexity while maintaining the original meaning, and ensure texts remain connected and understandable from beginning to end to support clarity and cohesion. Access the Guidelines.
MTC goes beyond simplification approaches that rely on readability formulas and a focus on surface-level features. These approaches often reduce cohesion, increase inferencing demands, and limit comprehension. Additionally, the MTC approach offers an evidence‑based alternative to symbol‑supported text, which research has clearly shown may reduce reading comprehension. Finally, the MTC approach aims to provide students with equitable access to grade‑level content by moving beyond simplified summaries of key points. Instead, it equips students to engage with the full richness of texts, including the ideas, structure, vocabulary, and nuance, and participate meaningfully in aligned reading and learning experiences.
