RESULTS FROM INTEGRATING THE "LOGOPEDIX" SOFTWARE PROGRAM IN THE SPEECH-LANGUAGE THERAPY

The high incidence of speech-language disorders among children with intellectual disability prompted us to seek new ways to improve the language and speech therapy, turning to the best account the latest available digital resources, by developing an original intervention program. The aim of this action research study was to assess the positive impact of the "Logopedix" software application towards meeting the speech-language therapy objectives and towards improving certain aspects of psychomotricity. The 40 participating elementary school children with intellectual disability, aged between 7 and 10, randomly selected from a Bucharest school for children with special needs, were divided into 2 groups with a homogenous distribution based on an initial evaluation. Throughout the 2012-2013 schoolyear, we subjected the two groups to a complex speech-language intervention program. We used the technology-enhanced approach for the experimental group (employing the "Logopedix" software program), and the classical approach for the control group. We verified three research questions (research hypotheses). The first one refers to the assumption that integrating the "Logopedix" software program within the speech-language therapy yields significantly better results than the "classical" speech-language therapy. The second one concerns the improvement of certain aspects of the fine motor skills (manual dexterity). The third one refers to the spatial awareness (telling left and right). The results of the final evaluation partially confirmed (partially ascertained) the first research question/hypothesis and fully confirmed (fully ascertained) the second and third ones. Therefore, we consider the "Logopedix" software program as a valuable assistive speech-language therapy instrument for the elementary school children with intellectual disability, within its defined limitations.