Molly Lynch, MPH, and Linda Squiers, PhD, both work within the Communication Practice Area at RTI International. Lynch has over 15 years of experience developing, implementing, and evaluating public health programs with a focus on health literacy. She now directs RTI’s Audience Engagement Research Program. This includes using human-centered design principles to engage audiences in the development of communication products and interventions.

Squiers has over 30 years of experience in health communication research. She focuses on developing and testing health communication messages and interventions for print materials, videos, campaigns, and other online tools. Squiers is a Senior Health Communication Scientist at RTI.

Molly Lynch and Linda Squiers talk with Helen Osborne about:

• Intellectual developmental disabilities (IDD) and extreme low literacy (ELL). Why it is important to create materials specific to this audience.


• Creating these materials goes beyond plain language. It also includes using evidence-based best practices that focus on behaviors, sentences, words and numbers, text layout, and visuals.


• Information about a guide to help you develop materials and a tool to check how well your materials follow these guidelines.

More ways to learn:

• How to Develop Products for Adults with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities and Extreme Low Literacy: A Product Development Tool. Published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).


• “Building Evidence for Principles to Guide the Development of Products for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Extreme Low Literacy–A Product Development Tool.” By Squiers L, Lynch MM, et al. Published in Healthcare, June 14, 2023.


• The CDC Clear Communication Index

Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Third Edition, by Helen Osborne. The chapter “Know Your Audience: Emotions, Cognition, and Behavioral Health” is especially relevant to this podcast.

Read a transcript of this podcast.

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