Digital and Multimedia Technologies in the Education and Upbringing of Children with Severe Speech Disorders

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to experimentally determine the effectiveness of using digital and multimedia technologies in the education and upbringing of primary school–age children with severe speech disorders for the comprehensive enrichment of vocabulary, the development of communicative skills, and socially significant competencies. To achieve the research objective, a complex of theoretical, empirical, and statistical methods was employed. Theoretical methods (analysis and synthesis of scientific sources) made it possible to substantiate the pedagogical principles of applying digital and multimedia technologies in work with children with severe speech disorders, while empirical methods (pedagogical experiment, speech and language assessment, pedagogical observation, and analysis of speech activity products) were used to identify the dynamics of changes in vocabulary, communicative skills, and social interaction. Quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were applied to generalize the results and confirm their reliability. The experimental study demonstrated that the systematic use of digital and multimedia technologies in the educational process contributes to a significant enrichment of the passive and active vocabulary of primary school–aged children with severe speech disorders. In the experimental group, both quantitative vocabulary growth and qualitative changes in the lexical and grammatical structure of speech, increased syntactic complexity, and enhanced speech activity were recorded, whereas changes in the control group were limited. The use of digital and multimedia tools also had a positive impact on the development of communicative skills and social interaction among children. The effectiveness of digital and multimedia technologies as a pedagogically appropriate tool for the education and upbringing of primary school–age children with severe speech disorders has been proven. Their use ensures a comprehensive impact on children’s speech, communicative, and social development and may be recommended for implementation in the practice of special and inclusive educational institutions.