JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

With the plethora of mobile applications (apps) available in the App Store, more speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have adopted apps for speech-language therapy services, especially for pediatric clients. App Store reviews are publically available data sources that can not only create avenues for communication between technology developers and consumers but also enable stakeholders such as parents and clinicians to share and view opinions about the app content and quality based on their user experience.

Objective:

This study examines iOS App Store reviews from multiple key stakeholders (e.g., parents, educators, SLPs) to identify and understand user needs and challenges of using speech-language therapy apps (including augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC apps) for pediatric clients who receive speech-language therapy services.

Methods:

We selected a total of 16 apps from a prior interview study with SLPs that covered multiple American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Big Nine competencies, including articulation, receptive and expressive language, fluency, voice, social communication, and communication modalities. Using an automatic Python Crawler developed by our research team and an RSS feed generator provided by Apple, we extracted a total of 721 app reviews from 2009 to 2020. Using qualitative coding to identify emerging themes, we conducted a content analysis of a total of 418 reviews and synthesized user feedback related to app features and content, usability issues, recommendations for improvement, and multiple influential factors related to app design and use.

Results:

Our analysis reveals that key stakeholders, such as family members, educators, and individuals with communication disorders have utilized app store reviews as a platform to share their experiences with AAC and speech-language apps. User reviews for AAC apps were primarily written by parents who indicated that AAC apps consistently exhibited more usability issues due to violations of design guidelines in areas of aesthetics, user errors, controls, and customization. Reviews for speech-language apps reviews were primarily written by SLPs and educators who requested and recommended specific app features (e.g., customization of visuals, recorded feedback within the app, culturally diverse character roles) based on their experiences working with a diverse group of pediatric clients with a variety of communication disorders.

Conclusions:

To our knowledge, this is the first study that compiles and analyzes publicly available app store reviews to identify areas for improvement within mobile apps for pediatric speech-language therapy apps from children with communication disorders (CwCD) and different stakeholders (e.g., clinicians, parents, and educators). The findings contribute to the understanding of CwCD’s app content and features, app’s usability and accessibility issues, and influential factors that impact both AAC apps and speech-language apps for CwCD who need speech therapy.