Disfluent Font Can Hinder Sight-Word Acquisition in Students With Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Students with intellectual disability often have difficulty reading commonly used words. Researchers have found altering printed text from fluent, easy-to-read font, to disfluent, difficult-to-read font can enhance comprehension and recall. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare sight-word acquisition and maintenance in three postsecondary students with intellectual disability when flashcards were presented in fluent (i.e., 14-point Arial) and disfluent (i.e., 14-point Juice ITC reduced to 70% transparency) fonts. Results showed all three students acquired and maintained both fluent and disfluent words, with two of the three students learning more fluent words. These findings suggest altering fonts to make them difficult to read can hinder, rather than enhance, word learning in students with intellectual disability. Directions for future research are provided with a focus on the need for aptitude-treatment interaction studies.