Check out these amazing speech therapy apps. These are all tried and true apps that can really make a difference, creating much more fun and excitement in the process of therapy.

 

1) Articulation Station

Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Cost: There is a free version which just gives you one sound to work on.  After that, you can buy each sound separately for between $3.99-7.99 or you can pay $59.99 and get all of the sounds.  

This speech therapy app contains sets of pictures based around the sounds we target in speech therapy.  For example, if a child is working on learning the /p/ sound, it contains words with /p/ at the beginning, middle, and ends of words.  It also allows you to view those words individually (as flashcards) or make a game out of them by playing memory.  You can have a child say each word as he/she turns the cards over for practice.  Then, once your patient is pretty good at single words, you can put those words in sentences.  This makes the practice a little more difficult and takes the child’s production to the next level.  Then, once he/she has mastered that, it even puts the words in simple stories for you.  Other enjoyable are that you can record the child’s production and play it back to him/her for immediate feedback, and that you can record if the child produced it correctly or incorrectly and receive a percentage correct at the end.  This will allow you to chart your patient’s progress.

Children are all super motivated by Articulation Station.  You will get much better buy-in using this than traditional articulation cards.  Children love flipping between cards and the triumphant trumpet fanfare when they finish a set!

 

2) Injini  

Compatibility: iPad

Cost: $29.99

Though this app may not be categorized with other speech therapy apps, it will certainly provide many opportunities to work on speech and language skills.  This app is a suite of games which focus on child development in many areas.  There are 12 games included in this app and each game is broken down into many skill levels.  For example, one game works on completing puzzles.  Within that game, you can choose level one, which consists of placing one shaped piece into its corresponding hole, all the way up through level 9 with each level getting progressively more challenging.  This game was designed for children with special needs so it is specifically designed to give them many successes while working on progressively harder skills.  The skills targeted in this game are: shapes and colors, cause and effect, receptive identification of objects (such as “find the ball”), pre-writing skills, phonemic awareness, matching, patterns, puzzles, and memory.  This app was designed for children ages 1-7.

This is another one that they love it!  This can be used for receptive object labeling, but all of the games also work on fine motor skills while you’re learning or practicing other skills.  This app can also be used as a reward for some children who need a break after working for several minutes.  

 

3) Talking Larry the Bird

Compatibility: Requires Android 2.3 or higher

Cost: free

Talking Larry The Bird will repeat everything you say in his peculiar voice. This is great for giving children a motivating reason to practice their speech and language skills.  While this is his main ‘function’, you can do a lot of other things with Larry as well! There are also cause and effect features of this app that provide constant amusement for kids and adults alike.  For example, you can give him food and watch him eat, poke him so he hops around on his branch, and even make him get struck by lightning. In addition, you can play the piano alongside Larry and pretend you’re a musician for a few moments. You’ll also see Larry chirp along with what you’re playing. Talking Larry, The Bird is a sure source of entertainment for little ones.

Kids of all ages love Larry!   Larry is wonderful as a therapy tool when you have a child who is reluctant to talk or make noises.  He can also be used as a sound board for children with which to practice their skills.  For example, you might see how many times you can get Larry to say his good “p” sound.  In addition, you may also just use this as a reinforcer as something to work toward during therapy.  

 

4) WH Question Cards 

Compatibility: Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPad

Cost: The free version includes only “Who” questions. “What”, “Where”, “Why”, and “When” questions cost $2.99 per set. The all-inclusive set costs 11.99

This speech therapy app by Super Duper Inc. is a virtual version of their “wh-” question cards that they sell on their website.  Each set of cards includes many questions using the target “wh-” word.  Also included are four different games you can play while the child is practicing the wh- questions, including matching and the super duper secret decoder game, which allows the child to slide the decoder over the choices to find the correct response.

Super Duper Inc. is a great company with a long history of creating great speech and language therapy materials as well as a recent history of creating speech therapy apps.  This app is a great way to have a virtual version of their wh- question cards.  Students are very motivated by getting to practice these on the I-Pad.  It is great to switch between the four games when the child starts to lose interest.  The app will even read questions and answers aloud for non-readers.

 

5) Sono Flex

Compatibility: for iPhone, iPod and iPad

Cost: $99.99

Sono Flex is also available in a slightly limited, but fully functioning evaluation version called Tobii Sono Flex Lite.

This app serves the purpose of a communication device for children who are having difficulty communicating with the people around them.  This is a cost-effective alternative to dedicated communication devices which can cost several thousand dollars.  Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) devices are a great option for children with autism, down syndrome, apraxia of speech, or other communication disorders that cause them to not be able to communicate verbally.  With this app, children can push a button or combination of buttons and it will speak their message for them.

This app allows kids to make requests and interact with peers as well as combine words together to make sentences.  It also allows children to conjugate verbs and add grammatical markers so it can adapt to the child as he/she grows and changes.