You might (or might not) think that technology is great. Over the past few years, we’ve noticed that many of the kids here at TherapyWorks definitely think technology is great! They enjoy playing games, pushing buttons, hearing the sounds, watching the screen, and many times can work an iPad better than we can! So why not use it to their advantage? We often times use apps on the iPad as well as games to target specific goals, learn new concepts, or just for plain reinforcement. Using an iPad for reinforcement or for a reward is pretty self-explanatory. If the child completes the designated activity given in a therapy session or at home, his actions and hard work can be rewarded or reinforced through an iPad game.
While using an iPad as a reward or for reinforcement is
great, it’s not the only thing an iPad can do. We often have parents wanting to know what apps we use, what is appropriate for their child, and how they can work on their speech at home while still making it fun. Below you will find a few of our apps that we use as speech therapists along with a brief description…
- · NACD Apraxia: There are 2 different apps available under this name. Both are only $4.99 and are good for kids working on specific speech sounds (p, k, d, etc) and oral motor planning. This would be good for a kid working more on the basics, as all the words are 1-syllable and typically consist of 3 letters.
- · ArtikPix: The full version of this app is $29.99 and is similar to the app listed above, as it targets specific speech sounds a
child might be struggling with. This app is neat because it not only has flashcards, but also has a matching game. It is a little higher level as it has 1, 2, and some 3 syllable words and has the option to practice full sentences, too. - · Bag Game: This game is $1.99 and is good for kids working on both expressive and receptive language skills. Receptively, kids can listen to a description and try to guess what’s in the bag. Expressively, kids can either label pictures OR come up with their own clues and have you try to guess what’s in the bag.
- · Fun With Directions: $15.99 for the full version, $0.99 for the “lite” version. This app targets basic concepts, such as top,
bottom, under, above, push, etc and has 3 different levels of difficulty. It’s a great game for getting kids to learn
basic concepts while following simple and complex directions.
There are tons more apps out there, so if these don’t fit your needs, ask your speech therapist for some more ideas. Happy downloading!!