Desenvolvimento de tecnologias assistivas para tratamento da linguagem oral

Abstract

Ensuring access to technologies that value quality, safety, and efficacy in health services is one of the main challenges and objectives of government institutions around the world. Considering these factors, this study aimed to propose a technological resource aimed at oral language rehabilitation processes. The proposed method was based on an integrative review, validation and application of a construct, development of the technological resource, usability verification and case study. Based on the data collected in a perception questionnaire, a proposal was developed for an application for mobile devices, Apraxy, aimed at phonetic/phonological alterations. Next, a usability test was elaborated, whose clinical use was considered satisfactory for 85.33% of the test participants. Apraxy was considered an excellent therapeutic strategy tool by 75% of the participants, obtaining a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88. Following the proposed methodology, the application was evaluated as a technological resource in the speech production of a subject with oral language alteration. The speech therapy sessions with a 5-year-old child were analysed descriptively, considering the phonetics and phonological of the minor during the sessions. The results indicate an improvement in the participant’s communicative skills after using the application, reflecting advances in articulatory production, in the development of linguistic levels and in the response to discursive demands. The data also reveal a gap in the production of scientific evidence on technologies applied to Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, in addition to the need for strategies that integrate these innovations into Public Health Policies. Furthermore, although challenges are being overcome, there is still an emerging demand for new resources aimed at speechlanguage pathology practices, especially around language.