Is educational software a luxury or a necessity in speech therapy for children diagnosed with intellectual disability?

Technology is increasingly used today in therapies for children with language disorders, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies show that artificial intelligence enhances the effectiveness of therapists' work in the corrective-recovery process. Due to new technologies, the importance of skills such as application, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration is increasingly emphasized, often at the expense of simple verbal information. The evolution of technological means not only requires the education system to develop students' ability to use them but also provides all educational actors with a set of indispensable resources, tools, and teaching methods necessary for effective training across all educational disciplines. This study aimed to investigate possible differences between specialists' opinions regarding the integration of educational software into speech therapy, based on their demographic characteristics. Our results revealed differences related to gender, the specialists' level of education, and the type of disorder suffered by the children they work with. These findings can be used in the development of mentoring programs for specialists in the field of special psychopedagogy to enhance their efficiency in the corrective-restorative approach.