Using iPad and iPhone Apps to Promote Speech and Language Development
As we all know, technology has become a part of our daily lives. iPad and iPhone application developers have created
both motivating and meaningful applications that target many of the areas within the speech and language discipline. The apps are multisensory; they tap into the senses of sight, sound and touch. The high resolution graphics used in the apps are visually appealing to all children. While there are TONS of applications out there, here are a few apps that can be used to improve and/or maintain vocabulary, articulation, pragmatic and language skills.
iPhone and iPad Apps To Help Develop Vocabulary:
| App Name |
Appropriate Age |
Description | Benefits of the App |
| Clean Up: Category Sorting (free) |
Any |
Game |
Helps children make associations and strengthen categories and sorting skills |
| Preschool memory match (free) |
3-5 |
3 different levels (easy, medium, hard) and 5 categories to choose from including: Transportation, Musical Instruments, Animals/Bugs, Food, and Objects |
Good for very basic vocabulary. Just a basic memory game. Mini reward follows the end of each game. |
| ABA Flashcards (free) |
2+ |
Flash cards are specifically created to stimulate learning and provide tools and strategies for creative, effective language building. |
Benefits to both visual and auditory learners. There is classical music with visual reinforcement built in to the app. Great tool for promoting the mastery of new words, building vocabulary and conveying new concepts. |
| Animal Fun (free) |
Any |
Animal learning program. Children learn about animals by seeing and hearing the sounds an animal makes. | Help builds vocabulary |
iPhone and iPad Apps To Help Develop Articulation:
| App Name |
Appropriate Age |
Description | Benefits of the App |
| All About SoundsInitial Position Words LITE (free) |
All ages |
Children are able to practice saying sounds in the initial position of words while playing a picture matching game. • Lesson Mode: Touch the card and name the picture then touch the picture to hear the word. Now try and find its match. • Free Play: Touch the cards to find a match and when you do try and name the picture. Now touch the picture to hear the word.Sounds in final position and medial position are coming soon! |
Great way for children to practice sounds they’re working on in therapy at home.
|
| PocketSLP Articulation (29.99) |
All ages |
Flashcards targeting both the word and sentence levels .Pocket SLP offers 29 phoneme selections. | Real time scoring occurs as the Correct, Incorrect, or Approximate buttons are selected |
iPhone and iPad Apps To Help Develop Pragmatics:
| App Name |
Appropriate Age |
Description | Benefits of the App |
| Social Skills (1.99) |
School aged |
Six social narratives (2 different levels). Targeted instruction in the following areas: Joint attention, non-verbal communication, greetings, structured game play, turn taking, classroom rules and imitation |
Stories were designed to help improve social language skills. The content can be modified – can add different photos, text and/or audio. |
| Everyday Social Skills (.99) |
Any |
Provides easy-to-understand information that allows users to become more capable of functioning independently at work, at home, and in the community through videos |
Designed to teach and reinforce basic social skills critical for independent living. |
| Autism Xpress (free) |
Any |
Different emotions or states are illustrated using cartoon images. |
Designed to encourage people with autism to recognize and express their emotions |
iPhone and iPad Apps To Help Develop Language:
| App Name |
Appropriate Age |
Description | Benefits of the App |
ABA Flashcards cont. (free)
|
Preschool + |
|
Improve problem solving skills, such as discrimination and reasoning skills |
| Toy Story Read-Along (free) | All ages | Interactive reading experience, which also includes games, movie clips, coloring pages, ding-along tunes, and surprises on every page. You can hear the story read aloud, record your own narration, or explore at your own pace. | Great for building both expressive and receptive language skills. Can target vocabulary development as well. You can also work on narrative/story telling skills. |
| Once Upon an App – Humpty Dumpty (free) | 3+ | View the story with music, then help put Humpty back together again by touching the screen and shaking the device. | Can work on reading comprehension as well as developing vocabulary. |
| Build a storyiPad Only (3.99) | All ages | Has 9 themes to start from and kids can create their own story. It includes characters to add to the story, speech bubbles, and accessories to add to the pages. Can save the story and access it later. | Good for developing/improving narrative skills. Could also be used for basic concepts as well (i.e. move characters and pictures around on the page). |
| iTouchiLearn Musical Morning Routines (free) | Toddlers and Preschool Kids | Morning routines are played in sequential order followed by interactive activitiesGames included to reinforce morning routines | Helps create excitement about an unfamiliar routine and aids in the learning of a new routine
Can also assist with transition difficulties |
| Who am I? (free) | Preschool and Up | Animal trivia; child is given 4-5 clues about an animal | This app targets the relationship between objects and features. Children begin to learn the various features of different animals |
| 123 Domino (free) | 2+ | Logical game of 3 side dominos | Helps teach colors, color matching, shapes and shape matching |
Miscellaneous:
| App Name |
Appropriate Age |
Description | Benefits of the App |
| Talking Tomcat (free) | All ages | Responds to your touch and repeats everything you say with a funny voice. You can pet him, poke and even grab his tail. | Good for reinforcement |
All of these apps are available to download in the iTunes store. Prices are subject to change. All apps are regularly updated so be sure to check for updates!! If you find an app that you absolutely love, check out the section “Customers Also Bought” and “More iPad Apps from…” Have fun with these!
Click here for more Speech and Language Apps!
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