Apps for Children
with Special Needs

A special kind of educational apps are Apps for children with Special Needs. We know how different educational apps could benefit children when playing them. Children can enhance their alphabet, numbers, phonics and general knowledge.  This page continues with even more specific learning apps: Apps for children with special needs, focusing on different aspects of developmental areas.

Especially for the iPad platform there are very specialized apps developed to specific help children with special needs with their development and therapy. These apps are high quality professional tools that even therapists use in their programs to help their students. But also parents of special needs children can buy these apps for children with special needs and use it as reinforcement on the therapies given by the various therapists.

What kind of apps for children with
special needs are there?

• Sign language
• Speech for Apraxia
• Phonics and Articulation 
• Communication
• Social Skills

Sign language apps for children with special needs

Baby Sign and Sing

This is a cute app for little kids. The kids can watch famous children songs while a animated baby in the front does the signs of the songs.

The app is divided into three sections: Explore Signs, Play Song and Watch Tutorial. This makes it entertaining for your child, as well as explaining the signs used in more detail for the adults.

Some details about each section:

• Play Song: is the main attraction with the cute animated characters singing the nursery rhymes and signing the ASL keyword signs.
• Explore Signs: is an interactive play-pad that allows your child to touch different parts of the screen to see the character sign key words associated with the nursery rhyme.
• Watch Tutorial: one of our friendly presenters explains the signs used in the rhyme and provides some tips and tricks on how to perform the signs.

Baby Sign and Learn

This app for children with special needs is from the same developer. An animated baby shows the signs. Fun and educational.

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Speech for apraxia apps

Speech Sounds for Kids

This app is our favorite speech app for kids. We love the multi-sensory approach of each sound. Listen to the sound, see the lips make the sound and watch the hand movement enhance the motor planning of the sound.

Then record the child’s voice and play sound games.  A fun, engaging app that will keep the kids focussed and it provides a great enhancement for speech therapy in a fun and educational way. Great JOB!

• See developers website: Multimedia Speech Pathology
• See App on iTunes

Speech Therapy for Apraxia

Working at the syllable level, it begins at the production of single syllables and progresses through increasingly difficult production sequences all the way to the production of sequences of random syllables. The children hear the word and then repeat it.

** Features **

• Choose from 8 different consonant groups (for a total of 19 consonant sounds) to target.
• For each group, choose from 8 levels to practice
• Detailed instructions explain how to choose an appropriate consonant group and practice level.
• Move through a logical progression of 8 different levels for motor planning for speech.
• Illustrations and audio provided for each syllable.
• Option to repeat levels, reset, or move to next level.
• Can also be used for straight articulation drill for particular phonemes.

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Phonics and Articulation apps

Reading Phonics Train School

An educational and entertaining super duper game for preschool and kindergarten explorers with beautiful graphics. It’s developed by a team of educational experts from 22learn designed to best prepare your children for success in the kindergarten curriculum.

Its simple, yet modifiable, child-friendly interface offers children an engaging way to master the essential skill of PHONETIC LETTERS SOUNDS. An educational adventure application your children will love!

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Communication apps for children with special needs

AACORN AAC app

Aacorn has brought a new way of AAC to the market. The first AAC software with an artificial Intelligence that LEARNS and adapts to each user’s individual needs. Enabling children of ALL AGES AND ABILITIES  to build and speak clear flowing sentences – at or near the speed of most other children.

This system is attractive to kids, easy to use and it gives kids the abilities to make complete sentences. Aacorn uses a “word-tree” that adapts to the user. It learns to predict which words the child might want to say next. The way Aacorn works makes it easier for children to make complete sentences at almost normal speed.

• Read our users review of the AACORN APP here!

JAB Talk

JABtalk is a free speech communication application designed to help non-verbal children communicate. It can be used as an easy and effective augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device, however you can also use it to reinforce and practice words used in the speech therapy sessions.

By combining personalized voice and images with an extremely simple user interface, JABtalk delivers a speech solution that is both fun to use and easy to learn.