As a healthcare profession, Speech Therapy (ST) is characterized by direct work with patients. According to professional law (LogAPrO, 1980), a correspondingly high proportion of practical study is mandatory to obtain a professional qualification - 2,100 hours as part of ST instruction or 40-60 ECTS-P in undergraduate degree programs. Traditionally, speech therapy skills are acquired during training and studies through work shadowing and practicing therapy carried out by students on real patients and under professional supervision. The implementation of simulation-based teaching and learning concepts in the training of healthcare professionals was recommended by the World Health Organization in 2013. The meta-analysis by McGaghie et al. (2014) documents the effectiveness of simulation-based teaching and learning compared to traditional educational methods and demonstrates a significantly higher skill acquisition of medical-clinical skills compared to traditional methods. Simulation-based teaching and training methods in virtual (VR), augmented (AR) and mixed reality (XR) have been developed both for nursing and surgery purposes. In the field of ST, with its specific training requirements corresponding developments are currently lacking, and VR has just been applied for therapy. VR-based simulation training scenarios allow a student learning process in which interprofessional and multi-layered action strategies can be developed in a fictitious yet supervised manner. In this way, they protect students from excessive demands and recognize patient protection and fundamental questions of clinical ethics.

Our research team’s goal is to develop a VR training application that can be integrated in ST apprenticeship and studies courses to improve students' practical skills and let them achieve a high level of expertise. The aim is to create different scenarios, each of these focusing on a topic not yet adequately covered in the ST curriculum such as Tracheostomy Tube Management (TTM) for dysphagia, electric and magnetic stimulation for dysphagia/apraxia (tDCS), the sequence of instrumental diagnostics in the form of a flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES).

The project applies a design-based methodology, where at first existing VR applications in nursing have been used as a starting point to develop requirements for the effective integration of VR into ST in expert consultations and focus group discussion. A scenario-based design approach is being used to develop specific scenarios for selected training procedures, linked to corresponding learning objectives. These scenarios are being used to design appropriate interaction metaphors to guide the development of prototypes, their relative methodologies and to combine different technologies in order to satisfy the requirements necessary for training each procedure. Instructional, UX design approaches and game-based learning methods are also being integrated. First low-fidelity prototypes are being implemented in Spatial, while VR training modules are implemented in Unity to exploit enhanced interaction methods.

In the final paper we will present a selected scenario in more detail. A description of the ST aspects addressed and the main difficulties faced by students training with it will be provided. Features and advantages of the prototype developed will be highlighted, methodologies and technologies used together with a first prototype and first evaluation results will be presented.

Keywords: Speech Therapy Training, clinical practical skills' training, VR training scenarios, simulation-based training, VR in education of Speech Therapy.