The iPad/iPod technology is continuing to grow and become a part of our kid’s daily life. Many families have purchased an iPad and many classrooms have at least one iPad, if not more, for their students. The app market also continues to grow. To date, there are over 425,000 apps!
As a speech therapist, I have continued my search for the best apps to use in my work with children with special needs. Below is my current favorite list of apps for my students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. These apps have been chosen because they address the hallmark weakness of kids on the spectrum, are engaging, well attended to, and include realistic images and sounds. Many are also low priced or Free — I love Free.
Speech Therapist’s Favorite iPad Apps
- Emotions Apps: ABA Flash Cards & Games – Emotions (FREE), Touch and Learn – Emotions (FREE), Moody Monster Manor HD (FREE), and I Was So Mad – Little Critter
- Sound Discrimination: Biggest Sounds HD , Noise Room for iPad, Things You Can Hear Lite, Sounds: The Pronunciation App (FREE), and What Was That Noise??
- Receptive Vocabulary: Farm Animals by Photo Touch (FREE) and My First 1,000 Words, Word Slapps, and SeeTouchLearn (FREE)
- How To Follow Directions: Move Like Me, TallyTots™, AlphaTots™, Making Sequences
- Early Literacy, Site Words, and Spelling Skills: I Like Books and Little Speller – Three Letter Words LITE (FREE), Word Wizard – Talking Movable Alphabet & Spelling Tests for Kids, iWriteWords, FirstWords: Deluxe, Word Wagon HD, Winnie the Pooh Puzzle Book – Disney, and The Monster at the End of This Book…starring Grover! – Sesame Street
- Creativity: Drawing Pad, Learning to Draw is Fun – Lite version, Cookie Doodle, Toca Tea Party, ClickySticky, My PlayHome, and createAmonster
In addition, here are a few fun apps that help kids talk about and experience very difficult activities — getting a haircut, going to the doctor, and visiting the dentist.
- Toca Hair Salon
- Toca Doctor HD Lite (FREE)
- The Little Bunny Visiting Dentist – DigibunnyTech
- Brush it Up – WonderApps
The actions kids can perform and sound effects make the apps truly multi-sensory. Using these apps are a great way to rehearse and prepare for these potentially challenging tasks.
Want a kid-safe way to search for images in your iPad? Check out FotoFarm. This app completely screens images and has a very simple interface. This app allows me to search with confidence and not have to worry about anything inappropriate popping up. (Warning- it is not 100% foolproof.)
Written by a Guest Author who works as a speech therapist with children on the autism spectrum.
Further Reading: 10 Free iPad Apps for Children With Special Needs
[...] Speech Therapist's Favorite iPad Apps For Children With Autism Here's a list of a speech therapist's favorite iPad apps for students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. They are engaging and realistic. Source: http://www.autismpluggedin.com [...]
Hi I’m the author of the above Apps for ASD Therapist’s Fav list. Please see my web site or blog for more information http://www.communik-9.blogspot.com
Enjoy
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } http://www.autismpluggedin.com – Today, 8:38 [...]
I started Brain Parade and created See.Touch.Learn. for children with Autism and special learning needs and have found that Speech professionals have been the most frequent and most vocal users of the app. There is a free edition and an all-inclusive paid edition. I think if you give it a try you’ll find it to be one of your favorites as well. We are making additions and enhancements to the app including student management features and the ability to create and share lessons with other professionals and parents. I’d love to hear what you think of it.
-Jim McClafferty, Founder – Brain Parade
Jim – Thanks for the info. We love your app, See.Touch.Learn, and recommended it in one of our earlier posts. Check it out here: http://www.autismpluggedin.com/2011/09/10-free-ipad-apps-for-children-with-special-needs.html Thanks for the info and the great app! — Jack
[...] Autism Plugged [...]
[...] Design!iask is designed without audio to encourage children to physically communicate with parents, therapists, and teachers using the iPad. This communication app for autism uses easy-to-understand symbols and lets users customize and [...]
[...] This app’s video, audio, and many examples of action words will surely keep a child’s attention and help them improve their language skills. [...]
[...] Grace app can be used as a tool for speech therapists, parents, and teachers who want to teach kids to communicate their needs [...]