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

SayBananas! app involves tasks for the child to listen and produce selected target words, and provides feedback on target word accuracy as a correct/incorrect decision.

“This app involves tasks for the child user to both listen and produce selected target words, and is provided with feedback on target word accuracy, as a correct/incorrect decision (Hair et al. 2021; McLeod et al. 2023).”

McLeod et al. (2023) evaluated 45 children over a 4-week self-supervised intervention and observed improved speech accuracy, though less pronounced than after longer intervention.

“In their subsequent evaluation of intervention for 45 children with (unspecified) SSD over a 4‐week self‐supervised intervention period, McLeod et al. (2023) also observed improved speech accuracy, although not quite as pronounced as after the longer intervention.”

The observed dose frequency ranging between four and seven sessions per week in the present study is comparable to the frequency of four sessions per week in Hair et al. (2021) and McLeod et al. (2023), and higher than the frequency of 2-3 sessions per week in Peterson et al. (2022).

“Regarding dose frequency, on the other hand, the observed frequency ranging between four and seven sessions per week in the present study, is comparable to the frequency of four sessions per week in Hair et al. (2021) and McLeod et al. (2023), and higher than the frequency of 2–3 sessions per week in Peterson et al. (2022).”

The current study employed a shorter and less supervised form of intervention as compared to previous investigations.

“In terms of intervention delivery, the current study employed a shorter and less supervised form of intervention as compared to previous investigations.”

Pop2TalkNordic offers more auditory exposure to target words than opportunities to production compared to both staRt and SayBananas!.

“It should be noted, however, that there is a critical difference between these speech‐training tools, where Pop2TalkNordic offers more auditory exposure to target words than opportunities to production compared to both staRt and SayBananas!.”

Compared to the observed dose of 76 production efforts in Hair et al. (2021) and 200 in Peterson et al. (2022), the present study's dose is markedly lower, whereas it is more similar to the 45 observed in McLeod et al. (2023).

“Compared to the observed dose of 76 production efforts in Hair et al. (2021), and 200 in Peterson et al. (2022), it is markedly lower, whereas it is more similar to the 45 observed in McLeod et al. (2023).”

The results that intervention with Pop2TalkNordic was not successful for the participating children runs counter to the positive results reported in previous studies of app-based speech intervention for children with SSD.

“The results that intervention with Pop2TalkNordic was not successful for the participating children runs counter to the positive results reported in previous studies of app‐based speech intervention for children with SSD (Hair et al. 2021; McLeod et al. 2023; Peterson et al. 2022).”