Speech-Language Pathologists’ Perceptions of the Importance and Ability to Use Assistive Technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) frequently work with people with severe communication disorders who requireassistive technology (AT) for communication. The purpose of this study was to investigate the SLPs perceptions ofthe importance of and ability level required for using AT, and the relationship of AT with gender, level of education,training, place of work, and years of experience. To achieve this goal, the researcher adopted a questionnaireprepared by Currie et al. (1996) to determine SLPs perceptions of AT. The study revealed a number of resultsregarding SLPs perceptions of the importance and ability to use AT. The results indicated that all of the SLPs whoparticipated in this study considered all of the items in the questionnaire to be valuable, and the respondents ratedthemselves as having a "low" to "high" ability of using AT. In addition, no statistically significant differences in theperceived importance and ability to use AT occurred between the male and female groups in all the categories andthe total score of the scale. The results also indicated a statistically significant difference in the perceived importanceand ability to use AT among the teaching experience groups and the training groups in all the categories and the totalscore of the scale. Participants with more years of experience and training produced more favorable results than theother participants did. In addition, no statistically significant differences in the perceived importance and ability touse AT occurred among the level of education groups in all the categories and the total score of the scale. Finally, astatistically significant difference in the perceived importance and ability to use AT occurred among the place ofwork groups in all the categories and the total score of the scale. The participants who worked in private settingsproduced more favorable results, except for the category “general computer knowledge”, in which no statisticallysignificant differences occurred among the participants.