I was diagnosed with combined type ADHD about a year and a half ago, so technically, I am one of the many adult learners with a learning disability.

But even before I knew that, making learning about reading and writing accessible was one of my main passions in life.

So while I’ve been doing my Master of Teaching, I have been dyyyyyyying on the inside while trying to read all these academic texts. Almost none are written accessibly!

Academics are out here talking a great game about how we should make education inclusive and accessible to everyone … but when I read their writing, I experience true mental and physical anguish.

Examples of how to make a text more accessible

For example, here’s a passage I currently cannot read easily, an explanation of why each phrase is confusing, and then how you could make it easier to read.

No offense to the writer, of course. I know that pieces published by large industry bodies like this go through several layers of editing and managers and corporate sign-offs that can really change the wording for the worse… Having said that…

This comes from the leading industry body for inclusive education, the Australian Federation of SPELD Associations (Auspeld), in their guide for the educators and the general public, Understanding learning difficulties: A practical guide (revised edition) (2019).

page 22:

The Response to Intervention (RTI) Model
Over the past decade an alternative approach to learning disability identification has been suggested. The Response to Intervention (RTI) model involves the systematic monitoring of all students in an environment in which schools are providing an evidence-based core curriculum. The model also relies on the introduction of increasingly intensive intervention processes in response to more frequent curriculum-based assessment. Students who continue to struggle academically; despite evidence-based instruction and curricula, supplemented by systematic intensive intervention, are considered to be students in need of ongoing support. Given their persistent difficulties, it is also considered likely that these students have a learning disability.

And yup, if you’re wondering, yes, that block of text is just the first paragraph of this section. 😫

Accessibility errors in this text:

The Response to Intervention (RTI) Model (Model for what? This heading doesn’t give me any context to what this section is about.)

Over the past decade (Add a comma to this time-based preposition, so it’s easier to see the different “chunks” or clauses of the sentence at a glance.)

an alternative approach to learning disability identification has been suggested. (Suggested by whom? Saying “has been suggested” is passive voice, which is harder to read than active voice – find out why.)

The Response to Intervention (RTI) model involves (“involves” is a word that has no tangible meaning, so we need to replace it with a more active verb, see examples below.)

the systematic monitoring of (This is a nominalisation of the verb “monitor”, so it’s unclear – someone is monitoring students “systematically”, which I thought meant “methodically” or maybe even that it’s “systemic” monitoring, but turns out it’s a piece of education-industry jargon meaning to teach things in a step-by-step process, and I’m not convinced I understand it, shhhhh don’t tell the authorities… And this sentence doesn’t tell us who is monitoring the students.)

all students in an environment in which (“in an environment” and “in which” together is too many “in” preposition-style clauses, so the reader gets confused where the “monitoring” verb is actually happening.)

schools are providing an evidence-based core curriculum. (Core curriculum and evidence-based are academic jargon, and the phrase raises a lot of questions, like were schools using a curriculum before that was not evidence-based? Why would they do that? It sounds like this sentence is trying to imply judgement against previous models and/or previous schools, which feels rude and unnecessary.)

The model also relies on the introduction of (Another nominalisation that makes this hard to read – what they mean to say is, the model only works if someone, maybe the school, introduces … but they’ve used the nominalisation “the introduction of” instead of the one-word verb “introduces”, making this clause harder to read for no reason.)

increasingly intensive intervention processes in response to (Kill me with alliteration – “increasingly intensive intervention processes in…” is literally so hard to read as separate words. Cute, but please don’t.)

more frequent curriculum-based assessment. (More frequent than what? Were schools doing assessments that were not “curriculum-based” before? That’s ridiculous. Every teacher I know has been marking their ass for years, for the very reason that the government says we must assess kids based on the Australian curriculum and Queensland curriculum.)

Students who continue to struggle academically; (Incorrect use of a semicolon; this should have been an en-dash or a comma instead.)

despite evidence-based instruction and curricula, supplemented by systematic intensive intervention, (These two clauses have so many problems. First, there’s the unexplained jargon (evidence-based instruction, intensive intervention, curricula), and the judgemental undertones of “evidence-based” (as opposed to what?). Secondly, there’s too many clauses to follow the subject easily: “continue … struggle … despite … supplemented by … are considered to be … support”. And this sentence again uses the word “systematic”, which has an ambiguous meaning here, and could be misinterpreted by readers as “systemic” rather than “methodical”.)

are considered to be students in need of ongoing support. (“are considered” is passive voice. Who considers the students to be in need? Is the school making the decision? The government? The family? The student themselves? There’s too much of a gap here between the subject “students who struggle academically” and the whole point of the sentence, which is that these students need support.)

Given their persistent difficulties, it is also considered likely that these students have a learning disability. (“considered” by whom? Passive voice strikes again. Also, this sentence saying students might also have a disability doesn’t seem to link back to the point of the paragraph, which is: “What is the RTI model?”)

How I would rewrite this section

Below, I’ve rewritten the first paragraph into a first “section” that focuses on one main point: describing what the model is and why you should learn about it.

Keep in mind that I’m a student teacher, so I may have completely missed the point of the paragraph. If so, please let me know!

The Response to Intervention (RTI) Model identifies learning disabilities sooner

One recommended way to identify students with learning disabilities in your classroom is the Response to Intervention (RTI) model. In this model, teachers give their class frequent assessments, so that they can tell early on which students need extra help in particular areas.

Spotting the signs early means schools and teachers can offer students extra support (a.k.a. “interventions”) to try to reach or stay at the same level as the rest of the class. If the usual support interventions don’t work, you know that you’re dealing with a learning disability of some kind, and the student can get more specific and ongoing support.

The school’s administration team should focus on providing resources and seeking funding, so that teachers and students can afford to use supports and strategies that are scientifically proven as effective. Ongoing support means the student, the school, their family, and maybe a medical team, can work together to help the student.

What do you think?

Did you find the original passage hard to read?

Do you often struggle to read texts for school?

Comment down below about how you would have rewritten this paragraph, or any other thoughts.