Appliance of Applications in Speech-Language Pathology

Kristina Kovačić, Ivana Šenk Gregorić, Ljiljana Širić

Abstract


Applications, as specialized software programmes designed to perform specific tasks, are increasingly used in various professional contexts. In SLP domain, they serve as an additional tool in assessment and treatment, encompassing a wide range of content and target areas. Previous research on which applications speech therapists in Croatia use, in what way and to what extent is scarce.The aim of this research is to determine awareness of applications applicable in Speech-Language Pathology, the frequency and ways of their use, and attitudes toward the usefulness and role of applicationsin the therapeutic work of Speech-Language Pathologists in Croatia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 51 respondents in the Republic of Croatia who are employed as SLPs. An online
Questionnaire for SLPs – appliance of applications in Speech-Language Pathology was created for the purposes of this research, which contained open and closed questions. Data analysis was conducted using appropriate statistical methods in the IBM SPSS Statistics programme. The results show that 86.3% of respondents use specialized applications in their work, among which ICT-AAC, ARASAAC, Cboard AAC and Boardmaker are the most commonly used. Only 2% of respondents stated that they did not know that there were applications applicable in Speech-Language Pathology. The majority of respondents have positive attitude and consider them useful in their work as a kind of support in combination with conventional speech-language therapy procedures. Technological support provided by specialized applications has the potential to increase the reach of speech-language therapy. In the future, more applications should be developed in the Croatian language with the possibility of personalized customization, while respecting the principles of personal data protection.


Keywords


Applications; Speech-Language Pathologists; Speech-Language Therapy

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ain, Quratul, Rabia Imtiaz (2025), ˝The Role of Technology in Speech-Language Therapy: Perceptions, Effectiveness, and Challenges in a Resource-Limited Setting˝, Journal of Health and Rehabilitation Research, 5(1), 1–8.

Amro, Abdullah, Hanan Abdallah Kotkot, Yahia Albobali, Prem Chandra, Yasser Saeed Khan (2024), ˝Epidemic preparedness and innovations in digital healthcare: Enhancing post-pandemic speech-language pathology services for child and adolescent mental health in Qatar˝, BMC Health Services Research, 24, 673.

Apel, Kenn (1999), ˝Checks and balances: Keeping the science in our profession˝, Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 30(1), 98–107.

Baranne, Marie-Laure, Barbara Azcona, Hélène Balloul, Patricia Goye- nne, Alexandra Moutereau, Isabelle Buresi (2024), ˝Trends in the prevalence of language disorders in 4-year-old children: Comparison of health assessment data in nursery schools in Val-de-Marne between the academic years 2018– 2019 and 2021–2022˝, Archives de Pédiatrie, 31(6), 365–368.

Binkhamis, Ghada, Emanuele Perugia, Reem S, W. Alyahya (2024), ˝Tele- health Awareness, Perception, Practice, and Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Questionnaire to Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists˝, Telemedicine and e-Health, 30(1), 223–233.

Brozolo, Rea (2021), Uloga robota u dijagnostici i podučavanju djece s poremećajem iz spektra autizma, Diplomski rad, Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb

Cao, Qiuyu, Ruizhi Zheng, Ruixin He, Tiange Wang, Min Xu, Jieli Lu, Meng Dai, Di Zhang, Yuhong Chen, Zhiyun Zhao, Shuangyuan Wang, Hong Lin, Weiqing Wang, Guang Ning, Yufang Bi, Yu Xu, Mian Li (2022), ˝Use of the new guidelines on an earlier age threshold of 35 years for diabetes screening can identify an additional 6.3 million undiagnosed individuals with diabetes and 72.3 million individuals with prediabetes among Chinese adults: An analysis of a nationally representative survey˝, Metabolism: clinical and experimental, 134, 155238.

Car, Željka, Matea Žilak (2021), ˝ICT rješenja dostupna na hrvatskom jeziku˝, u: Jasmina Ivšac Pavliša (ur.), Potpomognuta komunikacija kao metoda rane intervencije: teorijska ishodišta i praksa, Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, 96-110.

Cuperus, Pauline, Dörte de Kok, D., Vȃnie de Aguiar, Lyndsey Nickels (2023), ˝Understanding User Needs for Digital Aphasia Therapy: Experiences and Preferences of Speech and Language Therapists˝, Aphasiology, 37(7), 1016–1038.

Diaz, Theresa, Kathleen L. Strong, Bochen Cao, Regina Guthold, Allisyn C. Moran, Ann-Beth Moller, Jennifer Requejo, Ritu Sadana, Jotheeswaran Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan, Emmanuel Adebayo, Elsie Akwara, Agbessi Amouzou, John J. Aponte Varon, Peter S. Azzopardi, Cynthia Boschi- Pinto, Liliana Carvajal, Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, Sarah Crofts, Saeed Dastgiri, Jeremiah S Dery, Shatha Elnakib, Laura Fagan, B. Jane Ferguson, Julia Fitzner, Howard S Friedman, Ann Hagell, Eduard Jongstra, Laura Kann, Somnath Chatterji, Mike English, Philippe Glaziou, Claudia Hanson, Ahmad R. Hosseinpoor, Andrew Marsh, Alison P. Morgan, Melinda K. Munos, Abdisalan Noor, Boris I. Pavlin, Rich Pereira, Tyler A. Porth, Joanna Schellenberg, Rizwana Siddique, Danzhen You, Lara M. E. Vaz, Anshu Banerjee (2021), ˝A call for standardised age-disaggregated health data˝, The Lancet Healthy Longevity, 2(7), 436–443.

El-Wahsh, Sarah, Susannah Bonnor, Katarina Byrne, Val Maynes, Clare McCluskey, Rachel Heatley, Monique Signorelli, Elise Bogart (2025, ˝Speech-language pathologists’ confidence levels and professional development needs in motor neurone disease: An Australian survey˝, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 28(2), 1–21.

European Speech and Language Therapy Association – ESLA; Pristupljeno 8. 2. 2026. na mrežnoj stranici https://eslaeurope.eu/

Franssen, Thanée, Mandy Stijnen, Femke Hamers, Francine Schneider (2020), ˝Age differences in demographic, social and health-related factors associated with loneliness across the adult life span (19–65 years): A cross-sectional study in the Netherlands˝, BMC Public Health, 20(1), 1118.

Hallin, Anna Eva, Petri Partanen (2024), ˝Factors affecting speech-language pathologists’ language assessment procedures and tools – challenges and future directions in Sweden˝, Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology, 49(3), 104–113.

Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena, Ana Matić, Katarina Pavičić Dokoza (2020), ˝Telepractice as a Reaction to the COVID-19 Crisis: Insights from Croatian SLP Settings˝, International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 12(2), 93–104.

Leeb, Rebecca T., Melissa L. Danielson, Angelika H. Claussen, Lara R. Robinson, Lydie A. Lebrun-Harris, Reem Ghandour, Rebecca H. Bitsko, Samuel M. Katz, Jennifer W. Kaminski, Jessica Brown (2024), ˝Trends in mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders among children and adoles- cents in the US, 2016–2021˝, Preventing Chronic Disease, 21, Article E96.

Leinweber, Juliane, Birte Alber, Maria Barthel, Alexander Sean Whillier, Silke Wittmar, Bernhard Borgetto, Anja Starke (2023), ˝Technology use in speech and language therapy: Digital participation succeeds through acceptance and use of technology˝, Frontiers in Communication, 8, Article 1176827.

Melander, Catharina, Charlotte Löfqvist, Maria Haak, Søren E. Smedegaard Bengtsen, Gudrun Edgren, Susanne Iwarsson (2025), ˝Well prepared yet uncertain: Experiences of the early career transition after affiliation with an interdisciplinary graduate school˝, PLoS ONE, 20(4), e0321039.

Joza, Patricia, Jasmina Ivšac Pavliša (2022), ˝Primjena informacijskih i komunikacijskih tehnologija u logopedskom radu u Hrvatskoj˝, Logopedija, 12(1), 35-45.

Paone, Suzanne, Grant Shevchik (2013), ˝Making a Business Case for eHealth and Teleservices˝, u: S. Kumar i E. Cohn (er.), Telerehabilitation, Springer Publishing, New York City, 297–309.

Pinjatela, Renata, Ivana Vinceković (ur.) (2025), Obrazovanje učenika s teškoćama u razvoju: Uz asistivnu tehnologiju do jednakih mogućnosti, Sveučilište u Zagrebu - Edukacijsko-rehabilitacijski fakultet, Zagreb

Plantak Vukovac, Dijana, Tatjana Novosel-Herceg, Tihomir Orehovački (2015), ˝Users’ Needs in Telehealth Speech-Language Pathology Services˝, u: D. Vogel, X. Guo, C. Barry, M. Lang, H. Linger i C. Schneider (ur.), Information Systems Development: Transforming Healthcare through Information Systems, Department of Information Systems, SAR, 1-12.

Pravilnik o uvjetima, organizaciji i načinu obavljanja telemedicine (2011), Narodne novine, 138/2011.

Rašan, Ivana, Ivan Slivar, Matea Žilak, Željka Car, Jasmina Ivšac Pavliša (2019), ˝ICT-AAC aplikacije kao medij za komunikaciju i učenje˝, u: Ma. Konecki, Ml. Konecki, A. Kovačević (ur.), Računalne igre 2019, Fakultet organizacije i informatike, Varaždin, 51-58.

Rašan, Ivana (2025), ˝Komunikacija i Susretnica˝, u: R. Pinjatela i I. Vinceković (ur.), Obrazovanje učenika s teškoćama u razvoju: Uz asistivnu tehnologiju do jednakih mogućnosti, Sveučilište u Zagrebu - Edukacijsko-re- habilitacijski fakultet, 38–49.

Saeedi, Soheila, Marjan Ghazisaeedi, Maryam Ebrahimi, Mohammad-Sadegh Seifpanahi, Hamid Bouraghi (2023), ˝The willingness and attitudes of speech-language pathologists towards the use of mobile health technology: A survey study˝, BMC Health Services Research, 23(1), 336.

Schröder, Sabrina H., Navid Tabriz, Dirk Weyhe, Verena Uslar (2024), ˝How a Dysphonia App Can Promote the Motivation of Speech Therapists and Patients in the Long Term-A Qualitative Study in the LAOLA Project˝, Journal of Voice; https://www.jvoice.org/article/S0892-1997(24)00439- 9/fulltext

Theodoros, Deborah (2013), ˝Speech–language pathology and telerehabilitation˝, u: Kumar, S., Cohn, E. R. (ur.), Telerehabilitation, Springer Publishing, New York City, 311-323.

Treviranus, Jutta, Linda Petty (2002), ˝Chapter 7 – Computer Access˝, u: D. Olson, F. DeRuyter (ur.), Clinician’s Guide to Assistive Technology, Mosby, 91-113.

Zakon o zdravstvenoj zaštiti, Narodne novine 102/2025.

Zakon o logopedskoj djelatnost, Narodne novine 105/2025.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.51558/2490-3647.2026.11.1.1223

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


ISSN: 2490-3604 (print) ● ISSN: 2490-3647 (online)

Društvene i humanističke studije - DHS is under the Creative Commons licence.