Self-Supervised App-Based Speech Training for Children With Speech Sound Disorder-A Single-Case Experimental Design Study.

The study included only four children, so it cannot show how many children would respond. Training lasted only three weeks and was unsupervised at home. The app recorded only 7.2 to 14.0 production efforts per session, while the paper cites a recommendation of 50 to 100 production efforts per session. Technical problems caused missing recordings from practice sessions. The outcome was scored only as target accurate or not, which may miss subtle progress. Speech perception and stimulability were not fully assessed, and the intelligibility questionnaire was not distributed. The children were not receiving speech therapy during the study, so it does not show how the app works alongside therapy.

NordForsk funded the study under project number 103893. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that app-based speech training is ineffective for all children with speech sound disorder. This study used only four children, three weeks, low dose and little supervision, so it mainly shows this specific delivery did not work.