Equitable access to speech practice for rural Australian children using the SayBananas! mobile game

PurposeTo evaluate the effect, usage, and user-experience for SayBananas!, a Mario-style mobile game providing Australian children access to high-dose individualised speech therapy practice.MethodParticipants were 45 rural Australian children with speech sound disorders (SSD; 4;4-10;5 years) with internet access. This mixed-methods study involved: (a) recruitment, (b) eligibility screening, (c) questionnaire, (d) online pre-assessment, (e) SayBananas! intervention using motor learning principles (4 weeks, 10-15 target words), and (f) online post-assessment and interview. Usage and performance were automatically monitored.ResultMost participants were highly engaged with SayBananas! completing a median of 44.71 trials/session (similar to 45% of the 100 trial/session target, range 7-194). After intervention, participants made significant gains on treated words and on formal assessment of percentage of consonants, vowels, and phonemes correct. There was no reliable change for parent-rated intelligibility or children's feelings about talking. The number of practice sessions was significantly correlated with percent change on treated words. On average, children rated the app as happy/good/fun providing detailed drawings of playing SayBananas!. Families provided high ratings of engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and quality.ConclusionSayBananas! is a viable and engaging solution for rural Australian children with SSD to gain access to equitable, cost-effective speech practice. The amount of app use was associated with amount of speech production improvement over a 4-week period.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the effectiveness of SayBananas!, a Mario-style mobile game that provides Australian children with high-dose individualized speech therapy practice. The results showed that most participants were highly engaged with the game and made significant improvements in their treated words and speech production after the intervention. The families also provided high ratings for the game.