If you’ve supported students with extensive support needs—whether as a teacher, therapist, or family member—you’ve likely come across terms like “simplifying text” or “easy text.” These ideas often come up when we’re trying to make reading materials more accessible. While they may seem helpful at first, the process of making the words easier to decode may make comprehension more challenging. For example, most text simplification algorithms change proper nouns to pronouns. While she is must easier to decode than Charlotte, reading she requires the reader to make an inference. This can actually make the text more difficult to understand.
That’s where minimizing text complexity comes in. It focuses on simplifying individual words and sentences, but it does so with attention to the complexity of comprehension.
It’s Not About Making Texts Easy—It’s About Making Them Accessible
Minimizing text complexity doesn’t mean giving students less information or replacing difficult words with easier to read words. Instead, it ensures students can connect with the same ideas—just in ways that are clearer and more manageable. We’re creating more ways for students to access and interact with meaningful content.
What Makes a Text Complex?
Text complexity can show up in many ways—unfamiliar vocabulary, long or difficult sentences, abstract ideas, or even how the text is organized on the page. For students who struggle to read or listen with understanding, these features create barriers to understanding—even when the topic is something they’re fully capable of learning through explanation and experience.
As the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies led efforts to create the Minimizing Text Complexity Guidelines, we identified a range of factors that increase the complexity of a text. The guidelines divide the factors into six categories: whole text, sentence-level, word-level, formatting and layout, graphics, font and text effects.
What Does This Look Like in Practice?
Imagine you’re planning a lesson using a text from the general education curriculum. You know the ideas are important, but the language is too complex for your students. You know they will struggle to read the words, and even if you read it to them, they will struggle to understand the text.
Many educators adapt texts using strategies they believe will help. For example, they shorten sentences, replace unfamiliar words, or add icons above the text. These approaches come from a genuine commitment to making content accessible. Unfortunately, these changes don’t always make text easier to understand. In some cases, these approaches further reduce understanding.
In the MTC-AI project, we’re exploring a different approach: minimizing text complexity in ways that help students construct understandings of texts at multiple levels. This means adjusting language, sentence patterns, and formatting intentionally, so the text remains rich in ideas while becoming more accessible.
A Real-World Example
Take a book about how plants grow. The original text might say, “Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy.” That’s a lot to unpack.
But you could say, “Plants use sunlight to make their own food. The process is called photosynthesis.” Same idea, just more accessible. And if you pair that with a picture of a plant in the sun, or a tactile model, you’re giving students more ways to connect with the concept.
The meaning stays the same. The access point changes.
Why It Matters
When we thoughtfully minimize text complexity, we’re not simplifying the learning; we’re increasing access. We’re saying, “You belong in this conversation. You deserve to explore these ideas.” Inclusive literacy instruction isn’t about offering less. It’s about making sure every student has a way in.
A Final Thought
Minimizing text complexity isn’t about doing less—it’s about doing better. It’s a way to honor the diverse ways students communicate, learn, and make meaning. When we make texts more accessible without losing their richness, we’re not just adapting materials, we’re expanding opportunities. And that’s what inclusive literacy instruction is all about: making sure every student has a way in.