I know you will enjoy this guest post by Katie Kelley, SLP at peachyspeech.com. Katie’s depth of knowledge on speech therapy apps contributes to her valuable recommendations.
I work in a school district where very few SLPs have access to iPads in their everyday therapy. We’re trying to change that through grant writing education, setting aside time as Speech-Language Pathologists to collaborate and brainstorm about how to use the iPad in therapy and what apps to purchase, and through the collection and sharing of data supporting positive student outcomes when using the iPad.
Frequent questions that arise while meeting with SLPs new to using devices in therapy is, “THERE ARE SO MANY APPS OUT THERE..WHICH ONES DO I BUY?” So I’ve compiled a speech therapy tool belt for elementary level SLPs based on a starting budget of $100 (I did my very best to stay within that budget but found it too hard to leave a couple out). These days, all Speech-Language Pathologists have students with autism on their caseloads. From my own experience, the majority of students can be targeted using apps from the specific categories of SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AUTISM. My tool belt includes at least 1 app from each category. All apps on the list I have used extensively and have compared against other similar apps…so what you’re getting is the result of a lot of time and money spent.
Speech apps:
Articulation Station Pro ($49.99) (Articulation Station Pro is the first and only articulation application offering practice at the WORD, SENTENCE and STORY levels! The app includes 22 target sounds.)
Language apps:
Toontastic ($9.99) (This app can be used for increasing storytelling/retelling skills, increasing use of descriptive language and targeted vocabulary, working on verb tense and word order, pronouns, synonyms, and much more…)
Story Builder ($7.99) (Targets picture description, word order, sentence formation, vocabulary, making predications, cause/effect, pronouns, verb tense, sequencing)
Language Builder ($7.99) (Targets picture description, sentence formation, word order, verb tense, vocabulary, pronouns.)
Preposition Builder ($9.99) (Targets correct use of prepositions and how preposition use changes a sentence.)
Cookie Doodle ($.99) (Targets sequencing, following directions, basic vocabulary and great for spicing up sessions around the holidays)
Word SLapPs ($4.99) (This is great for students with significant deficits in vocabulary. It allows you to upload your own images by category)
Doodle Buddy (Free) (Target anything you want while students doodle with their finger. I use these apps to talk about categories, part/whole relationships, etc.)
Autism apps:
Stories2Learn ($13.99) (Create custom social stories, using your own photos, text, and voice-over)
Model Me Kids: Going Places (Free) (Helping learn to navigate challenging community locations through slide shows of children modeling appropriate behavior. May only be appropriate for a couple students but at this price, add it!)
Conversation Builder ($9.99) (Pragmatics: Discriminate between subtle differences which can negatively or positively impact a conversation. Practice making appropriate comments and asking appropriate questions with real life pictures.)
Total: $115.91 (almost made budget 🙂 )
There are so many other wonderful apps, but I think this is a solid place to start. I hope you find this helpful if you’re planning on getting an iPad for therapy or even planning to write a grant for an iPad.