Students from four different Hanze University study programs have contributed to the development of an app for stuttering therapy. Developer Bea van Meerveld talks about it on the website of the educational institution.
Speech therapist Van Meerveld devised the app after she found it difficult for her son to work with exercises to remedy his stuttering. She saw that he was paying more attention to the therapy exercises through a screen. Van Meerveld then came into contact with lecturer in Digital Transformation Hilbrand Oldenhuis and lecturer-researcher ICT Harald Rietdijk of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, after which the idea for the app took shape. A total of 25 students from four different courses worked on the development of Ssstutterfly.
The app is mainly used during the beginning of therapy, says Van Meerveld: “The first step in therapy is to introduce children to stuttering. They learn things about their own speech or speech in general. The children also learn about different types of stutters through the app. The app also gives users a better idea of what feelings are associated with stuttering. So you don’t work on the stuttering itself, but on the entire preparatory phase. That’s what the app does now.”
Ssstutterfly focuses on children up to 14 years of age. Users go through different levels in the app, with which they earn rewards. So like a video game. This makes the app perfectly suitable as a motivator for children. During an initial test phase, in addition to stuttering therapy, children also tried out the app. Including Van Meerveld’s son: “He absolutely loved the app. We are now moving on to an extensive testing phase with more therapists and users.”