Playful technology to help deaf children to speak: A case study using co-design method for designers to learn from speech therapists and parents

Every year approximately 500 babies are born deaf or hearing impaired in Australia. After a cochlear implant, young children can learn to speak with intensive speech therapy. A range of paper-based speech therapy programs exist, but there are few technologybased programs. The benefits of using technology to practice speech drills for busy parents is compelling, however there are few such tools for parents to use. This paper presents a case study questioning what design elements are appropriate for a speech therapy iPad application for parents of young children. Speech therapists and carers of young children were invited to co-design an iPad application with 15 Master of Design students from an Australian University. Two workshops trialled a variety of co-design activities, over a 12-week period to allow time for reflection and design prototyping. Case study method was used where a rich description of the context, co-design activities and findings were coded and analysed for common themes. When designing an educational iPad speech application for young children, the co-design process highlighted the following important requirements: (i) design for play rather than learning, (ii) gradual exposure to the application not to block interest, (iii) use a variety of imagery (dogs as the preferred animal), (iv) use popular culture cartoons and images, (v) develop lip reading as well as sign language games, (vi) allow space for getting it wrong while playing, (vii) design for privacy and personalized settings, (viii) send the young child’s learning progress to parents and speech therapists, (ix) design aged appropriate levels, and (x) focus on parents as role models for speech learning. We conclude co-design is useful for uncovering appropriate design elements when the activities are playful, colourful, and hands-on. When co-design activities ask indirect questions of the participants, a rich picture of the context emerges.