Plain language summaries need to be written at a proficiency level of 2 to 3, which roughly corresponds to a 6th grade to 8th grade reading level. Writing these for paediatric audiences brings even greater challenges.

For communication to be effective, the needs of the target audience should be the foremost consideration. A document written for a child needs to be different from a document written for an adult reader.

In an attempt to understand preferences among the paediatric participants, the authors tested 3 different formats of plain language summaries with 30 paediatric volunteers. This article discusses insights gained from this exercise.