February 1, 2024

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.

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) What Rhymes What Does Not Belong Which Go Together	Preschool +	many different combinations of easy rhymes child is shown 4 images per page, and asked which one does not belong child is shown 4 images per page and asked which two items belong together	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!

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