The Internet has revolutionized many areas of modern life since it became a global means of communication. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) offer the option of analyzing, organizing, synthesizing, and transmitting information and, therefore, can contribute to expanding and developing valuable clinical and educational tools for speech and language (Toki et al., 2012). In addition, it allows us to offer personalized and quality service (Lavoie et al., 2020).

"Simone Says" is computer software designed for children with ASD to acquire functional language through an interactive environment for language recovery that brings together research on speech recognition, natural language processing, and computer-assisted instruction, allowing concentration and primarily visual and auditory memory to work (Lehman, 1998).

The study of Glykas and Chytas (2004) describes the first web-based tool called Telelogos for diagnosis, treatment, and digital learning in speech and language therapy. It consists of three modules: public awareness, referral, and evaluation, which allow speech therapists and other professionals to find the optimal treatment for each patient. The tool was evaluated by twenty speech and language therapists and tested by potential users in Greece and the UK. The evaluation results were encouraging and demonstrated user satisfaction regarding efficiency and functionality. According to Griffiths et al. (2007), "high user satisfaction" means that users or customers of a product, service, or experience are very satisfied or pleased with it. High user satisfaction typically indicates that people find the product or service to be effective, enjoyable, and meeting their expectations or needs. It suggests a favorable response from the users, often seen as a desirable outcome for businesses and organizations aiming to provide quality products or services.

The authors, Pierrakeas et al. (2005), present the use of collaborative online environments (telemedicine) for speech therapy, in which the therapist can guide the group of participants through structured discussions, focusing on improving the initiation of speech. Conversation, taking turns, clarifying ideas, repairing breaks in conversation, and participating in role-plays of everyday communication situation. In addition, these environments employ easy-to-use recording, editing, and storage functions, so users can create professional recordings at their own pace in industry-standard formats using a standard computer with a camera and speakers. One benefit of these online collaboration environments is that they can support an unlimited number of co-presenters and subject-matter experts.

Toki et al. (2012) developed an online speech-language pathology expert system for diagnosing speech disorders and difficulties. The system can answer specific questions, give an automatic evaluation response, and generate a list of localized disorders. SLPs and other professionals can use this feedback to plan therapy or learning tasks.

There is a large amount of research regarding methods and technological resources implemented in speech therapy. The most commonly used technological resources are video calls, 2D and 3D resources, multimedia, voice recognition, and speech-to-text for patients to obtain the necessary feedback for the correct development of the therapeutic session. Several investigations suggest that these tools are most accessible and convenient for everyone (Lo et al., 2017). In addition, they support patient-centered and self-management models of medical care (Madeira et al., 2017), significantly influencing the socio-emotional, motivational, and cognitive aspects (Buitrago et al., 2019).

In work carried out by Buitrago et al. (2019), a technological device is presented to support the therapeutic processes of children with learning problems to develop the following skills: memory, concentration, mathematical operations, laterality, and spatial orientation. The device consists of a mobile application for Android devices, three hardware interfaces, and a Lego mobile robot. The app has three activities (challenge, math, and maze). After the validation, it was possible to confirm an improvement in the children’s abilities in the activities (memory, concentration, mathematical operations, laterality, and spatial orientation), as well as improvements in their self-esteem and general performance.

The main objective of the study by Lavoie et al. (2020) was to investigate the efficacy of a self-administered therapy for people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) using a smart tablet to improve function word naming and assess generalization to a conversation task. The treatment was administered to five adults diagnosed with PPA four times a week for four consecutive weeks. As a result, a significant improvement was determined for the trained words in the five participants, and the gains were maintained two months after the treatment in four of them. In addition, evidence of generalization in conversation was found in three participants. Two aspects of the system stand out: i) a self-applicable type of therapy can be carried out where the person has control over their therapeutic process and their subsequent performance, and ii) it makes it possible to keep a detailed record of the evolution of the patient in different aspects of the therapy.

In the study carried out by Catania et al. (2022), a system was designed and developed that encourages children to describe themselves through questions and suggestions to create an avatar consistent with what is said, thought, and seen in reality, allowing the user to have a positive impact in different areas such as i) self-awareness, ii) self-knowledge, iii) communication skills, and iv) vocabulary of the mother tongue and foreign language.

Besides, Condemarín et al. (2016) identified five critical areas of auditory stimulation:

i) Sound Recognition Stimulation, Activities to identify and recognize diverse sounds, strengthening hearing capacity; ii) Stimulation of Auditory Discrimination: Development of the ability to differentiate similar sounds, improving speech comprehension; iii) Sound Localization Stimulation: Helps determine the direction of sounds, crucial for spatial awareness;

iv) Stimulation of Auditory Comprehension: Improves the interpretation and processing of auditory information, facilitating communication; and v) Stimulation of Auditory Memory: Reinforces the retention of auditory information in the short and long term.

Regarding this software, there is identified software with similar purposes available on the market. Among others: i) Lingokids is primarily focused on learning the English language and providing an engaging educational experience for children; ii) CogniFit is an application that offers auditory stimulation exercises and other cognitive activities to improve general auditory and cognitive skills. This app is available in multiple languages, including Spanish, and offers a free version with limited features and a paid version that provides complete access to all features and exercises. iii) Auditory Processing Studio is an application designed to help people with central auditory processing difficulties. It provides a variety of ear training exercises and is available in multiple languages, including Spanish. This app offers a free trial version, but italso has a paid version with additional features and more advanced exercises.

The Requirements phase is developed in a unidirectional way between three activities adapted to the domain of this study (Amado-Salvatierra et al., 2015): i) definition of the problem, which includes i) defining the auditory stimulation program (guidelines proposed by Condemarín) and formulate the objectives to be achieved; ii) identification of requirements: identify the activities to be carried out, define the rules to be followed to guarantee accessibility/ usability, and select or create graphic and multimedia resources, for which the use case diagram was defined; and iii) use cases: where the requirements for the implementation of the prototype are defined. As a result of this phase, the use cases were defined based on the use case diagram and stimulation modules, as shown in Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 2.

Table 1
Stimulation modules

Figure 2
Use Case Diagram

Table 2
Use Cases

Based on use cases, the second phase was developed unidirectionally between two activities adapted to the domain of this study: i) Assembly and ii) Development (Amado- Salvatierra et al., 2015). In this way, a generic plan was created for how the software will be built, which includes choosing the optimal instructional method or methods to create objects or materials that help support the therapeutic processes of children with learning disabilities (Buitrago et al., 2019).

Assembly Activity: As a result of this activity, the interfaces (mockups) were designed for the activities ACT1 to ACT7.

Development Activity: The architecture used to implement the web prototype is based on the Model View Controller (MVC) (Rojas et al., 2019). The implementation of this model was based on the platform (Yii, PHP, MARIADB, speech recognition, and the Visual Studio Code IDE) to develop a web application compatible with mobile devices, tablets, and computers. As a result of this activity, the first version of the software prototype was obtained with the Use Cases CU1 to CU7 implemented. During the internal tests of the software among the developers, performance evaluations were made for each implemented item. As an output, the partial solution software prototype was obtained.

The evaluation phase is carried out in a unidirectional way between three activities (Amado-Salvatierra et al., 2015) adapted to the core of this study: i) Planning the evaluation;ii) Gathering information; iii) Analysis of the information obtained. These activities determine if the software prototype achieves the planned objectives and what changes are necessary.

For this phase, it was considered necessary to evaluate the requirements fulfilled and the system's functionality through the type of software tests known as "black boxes". The input was the first version of the prototype obtained in the previous stage. The checklists for evaluating fulfilled requirements and functionality were based on the model (Aristegui, 2010).Tables 3 and 4show the compilation of the evaluation carried out by the expert in the field of speech therapy.

Table 3
Requirements Assessment Checklist

Note: The success rate for evaluating fulfilled system requirements is 100% (Sasmito & Nishom, 2020).

Table 3 provides eight successful sample request requests that can be performed on the prototype. Therefore, the success rate for evaluating fulfilled system requirements is 100% (Sasmito & Nishom, 2020).

Table 4
Functionality Assessment Checklist

Note: Table 6 provides seven successful sample actions that can be executed on the software prototype. Therefore, the success rate for the functionality of the system is 100% (Sasmito & Nishom, 2020).

During the evaluation, five observations for improvements are listed in Table 5.

Table 5
List of improvements

Based on the initial prototype and the list of improvements as inputs, the correction phase is carried out in a unidirectional way in four activities adapted to this study (Amado-Salvatierra et al., 2015): (1) daily meetings: (2) reuse/adaptation of pre-existing material; (3) Development/ Modification; and iv) Software error testing.

As a result of this phase, the Final Prototype was obtained, shown in Figure 3, and accessible at the following link: https://github.com/luchV/PrototipoSofware.git.

Figure 3
Final prototype

The documentation phase is carried out in a unidirectional way in two activities (Amado- Salvatierra et al., 2015) adapted to the project: i) Preparation of the Data Dictionary and ii) Preparation of the User Manual. In this phase, the documentation that will allow us to understand the operation of the prototype is generated. As an output of this phase, the data dictionary and user manual were obtained (https://n9.cl/manual-de-usuario).

The implementation phase is executed in a unidirectional way between three activities (Amado-Salvatierra et al., 2015): i) Perform software usability tests; ii) Organization technical support; and iii) Retrospective. This way, the prototype created in the Assembly and Development phase was tested in the field (Cheung, 2016). As a result of this phase, the final Prototype Usability report was obtained.

A survey was applied that was based on the System Usability Scale (SUS) (Bangor, 2009). Google Forms was used to extract the information using a 5-item Likert scale. In this case, the participants were 36 students from the Universidad del Azuay in the Educational Psychology career who carried out a representative sample of tasks for the product (usability tests) and then completed the survey before any discussion with the moderator.

The statistical analysis process was based on the work of (Cedillo Orellana, 2017) . The collected results validated the questionnaire through Cronbach's alpha, obtaining a value of 0.81. Since Cronbach's alpha was more significant than 0.7, it suggests that the questionnaire is valid and consistent in measuring the desired construct.

The usability measurement scale (SUS) was used to obtain the descriptive statistics through the Excel 2019 software. The result was 85.6, so the prototype corresponds to the " excellent " category with high usability. (Bangor, 2009).

This application is a web platform that will be hosted on the servers of the Universidad del Azuay. It is important to note that access to the application is free for public and private institutions in Cuenca. In this way, we ensure the application is accessible and beneficial to a broad spectrum of users in the city's educational community.