Efficacy in the use of gamification strategy in phonological therapy.
Thalia Freitas da Silva, Grazielly Carolyne Fabbro Ribeiro, Cássio Eduardo Esperandino da Silva and 3 others
PMID 37703113WHAT IT FOUND
In children with phonological disorder, adding a computer game to phonological therapy did not improve target sound accuracy or reduce sessions compared with traditional therapy.
Both groups improved, but the traditional group started with higher consonant scores.
Key findings
01Adding the computer game did not produce a significant difference in performance across therapy stages compared with traditional therapy.
02Adding the computer game did not reduce the number of sessions needed to reach at least 85% correct production.
03Overall consonant accuracy scores increased after therapy for all subjects, but the traditional group had higher scores than the gamification group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only ten children completed the study, so the result is fragile. The sample came from convenience screening, and the groups were not balanced for initial severity: the traditional group had higher pre-therapy overall consonant accuracy scores. Computer familiarity, family participation and other motivational factors were not analysed, although they could influence engagement and progress. The intervention targeted only liquid substitution processes, so it may not apply to other phonological processes or severities.
Declared interests
The study was funded by FAPESP grant 2019/27669-4.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that gamification is equivalent to traditional therapy. The study had only ten children, the groups started with different severity levels, and the analysis did not find a significant effect of intervention type.