Resources
There are many wonderful, informative web sites and apps you can reference to further help your child at home. Some of the web sites we list have products we use in therapy that you can purchase at home to carry over exercises and make learning more fun!
Helpful Apps
- Playing with Words is a great resource article on toys.
- Apps Gone Free: Free App that lists several apps each day that are free. Changes every day. Something for everyone!
- Decide Now: Fun tool that helps with decision making. Some are pre-programmed, but you can customize it to fit needs.
- Talking Tom (and friends): Free start, with available upgrades. You don’t have to choose the cat. There are many talking friends to choose from…dog, robot, bird, etc.
- Bla Bla Bla: Free app that reacts to sound with black and white “faces” to choose from. The louder the sound, the bigger the reaction.
- Falling Stars: Free app that allows user to create unique music by making lines.
For Younger Kids
- Simple Sort: (I think this is free) Choose a group of items to have child sort into different buckets. Foods, furniture, letters, shapes, and so much more!
- Elmo ABCs: Free version gives user access to letters A, B, and C. Nice to try. My little ones liked it so much I bought the full version to access all letters. Trace letters, hear the sounds, great pre-literacy app!
- Fisher Price: Has a variety of free apps for the littlest of learners. I have Shapes and Colors, Where’s Puppy’s…? (for body parts), Animals, and Let’s Count.
- Photo Buttons: Tap the screen and a button appears. Tap again and it turns over to reveal a picture. Tap a third time and it disappears. Great for labeling and identifying. Add as many buttons as you want!
- PotatoMan HD: Almost like the real Mr. Potato Head! Great for body parts!
For Older Kids
- My Story Time: First book is free, but you can buy more. Take a picture of a child and put them in the story!
- Reading Comp1: (I think this one is free, too.) Gives a short passage, then the student has to answer a few multiple choice questions about the passage.
- SparkleFish: Similar to MadLibs. Student has to add different parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.), then generates a silly story.
- Sight Words: Silly characters have sight words on flash card to practice. A variety of options to choose from!
- Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe: Student has to answer a phonics-related question before s/he earns the square.
Speech-Specific
- ArticulationStation: Free version gives a few sounds to practice. You can then purchase just the sounds student is working on, or all of the sounds.
- VowelViz: About $30, but for kids who have a hard time producing vowels, this app provides visual feedback for productions and helps the student produce the sound correctly by aiming for the target.
- NAED Apraxia: Provides the repetitive drill needed for helping kids with apraxia produce their sounds.
- QuickVoice: (I think this one is free.) Simple recording app that allows student to hear his/her productions.
- TapToTalk: Free version gives generic pictures and layouts to help a student communicate wants, needs, etc. Purchase upgrades to customize to fit the needs of the client.
Honorable Mentions
- Cute Food: App that allows user to play with their food! Choose from a variety of picture templates, then make that picture on the plate using either fruits or vegetables. Some kids then want to explore the real foods when they see how much fun it can be!
- Interactive Books: So many to choose from! Many are free, many show up on Apps Gone Free. Many times you can search for a favorite character, story or topic. Keeps kids interested in reading!
- Interactive Music: Many free trial versions of classic favorites, such as Old MacDonald, If You’re Happy and You Know It, Bingo, etc. Who doesn’t love music?