Supporting Early Communication Skills of Children With Developmental Disorders in South Africa

Abstract

Using a mobile health application (i.e. app) to empower primary caregivers of young children with developmental disorders in low-and middle-income countries is opening up new avenues for early childhood intervention. Thirteen caregivers and ten speech-language pathologists participated in three focus groups to explore their perspectives about the potential benefits and suitability of a mobile health app as part of intervention, its features, the likelihood of using and recommending it, as well as potential pitfalls to be avoided. Both participant groups were generally positive, although there was little overlap between their responses. Caregivers generally focused on increased knowledge and skills (of all family members), as well as on empowerment and reduced costs. Speech-language pathologists on the other hand focused on how current service delivery would be enriched by increasing the dosage of therapy and enhancing parental cooperation. They also expected that the reach of service delivery would be expanded as more children and caregivers could potentially benefit. Although technology (i.e. mobile apps) could open up new possibilities for service delivery in this population, the perspectives of all stakeholder groups should be considered to ensure successful adoption of such technologies.

“They Can't Believe They're a Tiger”: Insights from pediatric speech‐language pathologist mobile app users and app designers

“…SLP App Designer P16 developed her own Chinese language assessment app and has utilised educational journal posts and the largest social media app WeChat in China for marketing. She stated that in countries such as China where the field of speech‐language and hearing science is still developing, parents are a key purchase influencer and thus developing promotional content targeted to parents is crucial to marketing apps (Bornman et al., 2020). With a team of content writers, her social media marketing has reached a relatively successful content distribution, with one out of nine readers having shared and forwarded their online content to other readers.…”

“…One more limitation is that due to the nature of remote calls and recall biases from interviews, this study relies on oral reports without observation of children's specific interactions with a complete list of apps being mentioned by participants. Future research should continue to investigate the collaborative design and use of mobile technology for children using other methodological approaches, such as interviews and focus groups to promote clinician‐designer‐researcher collaboration (Bornman et al., 2020; Ibrahim et al., 2022).…”

“…As early as 2012, following the release of the first generation of the Apple iPad, one of the most widely adopted tablets, there were already hundreds of apps designed for children with disabilities, and the number of such apps has multiplied to thousands since then, with countless apps developed and implemented by parents, teachers, therapists and technologists every year (Davis-Cheshire et al, 2020;Douglas et al, 2012;Ibrahim et al, 2022;Olszewski et al, 2022). Some parents, clinicians and researchers have reported that as more mobile apps are being designed and adopted for children with disabilities, these young people are utilising mobile technology as a learning tool and a communication device (Alper, 2014(Alper, 2014(Alper, , 2017Bornman et al, 2020;Fernandes, 2015;King et al, 2020;Olszewski et al, 2022), which benefits communication and learning. These emerging mobile technology adoption and use practices have led to diverse perspectives and controversies among different stakeholders including parents, educators, health professionals and policymakers who hold different views on the impact of mobile technology on children's communication, behavioral and social health (Bornman et al, 2020;Ito, 2017;Kamenetz, 2018;Madigan et al, 2020;Mazurek et al, 2012;Radesky et al, 2016;Sadovoi et al, 2022).…”

“…Some parents, clinicians and researchers have reported that as more mobile apps are being designed and adopted for children with disabilities, these young people are utilising mobile technology as a learning tool and a communication device (Alper, 2014(Alper, 2014(Alper, , 2017Bornman et al, 2020;Fernandes, 2015;King et al, 2020;Olszewski et al, 2022), which benefits communication and learning. These emerging mobile technology adoption and use practices have led to diverse perspectives and controversies among different stakeholders including parents, educators, health professionals and policymakers who hold different views on the impact of mobile technology on children's communication, behavioral and social health (Bornman et al, 2020;Ito, 2017;Kamenetz, 2018;Madigan et al, 2020;Mazurek et al, 2012;Radesky et al, 2016;Sadovoi et al, 2022).…”

Using a self‐guided app to provide communication strategies for caregivers of young children with developmental disorders: A pilot investigation

“…To address some of the barriers to EI for children with DD in South Africa, we developed a prototype self‐guided Web‐based app, “Nna le wena” (meaning “me and you”; DeLeo et al, 2021) for open access use. Before the development of the app, focus group input solicited from potential users (South African caregivers and SLTs) guided the design of the app, the suggested mobile technology, and the languages to be used in the app (Bornman et al, 2020). The focus groups suggested that we use a Web‐based tablet and not a smartphone because of the cost of data and variability in the technologies.…”