Technology: Apps (03-06 Years)

Teaches basic concepts such as new shapes or advanced concepts such as colors or characteristics. Some customization is available. Appropriate for children ages 2–4.

Cavity Dragons uses an interactive video game to motivate kids to brush their teeth.  Children move a fireman, who shoots a hose of toothpaste to eliminate cavity dragons, fires, and food from a mouthful of teeth.  Children earn virtual stickers for cleaning the teeth and can save the stickers to their device’s photo album.  Other pages of the game feature brushing the teeth with a fireman on a skateboard toothbrush, assembling puzzle teeth, and decorating a fire station.

A tool for parents, therapists and educators to help teach pre-writing skills to children in order to build a strong foundation for beginning printers. This app was created by an Occupational Therapist with 25 years’ experience.

Provides an easy-to-use way for a nonverbal person with autism and motor planning issues to communicate with those around him/her. It has two, large, color-coordinated buttons…one for yes, and one for no. Press either, and you will hear a voice read your selection.

It also has the ability to create custom button pages which will allow the user to place custom text and pictures on buttons, record custom audio to play when the custom buttons are selected, and save up to 30 custom button pairs.

A picture-based communication app developed for children who are nonverbal. Avaz grows with the child to develop literacy. It is the only app that tracks therapy sessions to help you measure the child’s progress.

This app helps to practice following directions and answering simple “Wh” questions related to the animals’ responses; Inspires curiosity as youngsters explore cause & effect relationships; Builds language as parents help children put names to the many emotions and physical reactions displayed; and develops empathy by connecting the animals’ emotions both positive and negative to their causes.

This is a resource app for you to share with your child to help teach skills such as problem solving, self-control, planning, and task persistence. Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame is intended for parents and caregivers to use with their young children (ages 2-5).

Available in English and Spanish.

Free membership website that is a program of Easter Seals Greater Houston. It provides information about and access to educational and therapeutic tools for mobile devices. The site provides caregivers and professionals with the best resources for choosing apps to enhance everyday life for people with disabilities.The site was created by parents and therapists who began using the iPad with children who have special needs.

Speech language pathologists and occupational therapists created an app review system for the site that focuses on skills rather than age, diagnosis or developmental level to help improve outcomes for a person with a disability.

A smart and fun coloring app that has a kid-friendly, intuitive design. It provides easy-to-use tools that help kids improve drawing skills and boost creativity.

This app creates daily schedules and waiting picture boards. It will help children complete daily routines (morning, day, & night), assist in understanding & controling their feelings and improve their waiting skills (taking turns and not interrupting). Appropriate both for use at home and at school, and it offers many ways to customize.

It includes an image library with 180 common images, each accompanied with audio. You can also add and record your own images.

The Daniel Tiger for Parents app empowers parents and caregivers with songs and videos from the hit PBS KIDS series “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”.

It features over two dozen Daniel Tiger songs, supporting videos from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and helpful hints for parents about the important skills children need to be ready for school and life.

This app is designed to provide a fun and engaging way to practice listening, following directions, colors, spatial concepts, auditory memory and auditory processing. It is appropriate for a toddler or preschooler, or any young child who need practice following directions.

Assistive technology for what to wear in conjunction with the weather outside.

This app’s design is based on peer-reviewed scientific research. It’s funded by the U.S. Department of Education. iPrompts is used by special educators and therapists in the treatment of children with autism. It allows users to design visually based daily schedules for their children. The app includes a timer and voice and video prompts.

App that helps kids learn about the importance of dental hygene.

Website that offers several quality education apps exclusively available through iTunes.  All  games are designed to work on Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. They are have been specifically developed using an ABA approach.

Learn with Homer is designed by literacy experts for children ages 3–6. The program is based on scientific research on how children learn.

A free AAC talker app for Android which supports communication in all areas of life and therefore providing a voice to everyone.
Suitable for:
• autism symptoms and Asperger syndrome
• aphasia
• speech apraxia
• articulation/phonological disorder
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
• Motor Neuron Disease (MND)
• Cerebral palsy
• Down syndrome

Two players challenge each other by solving math equations

People on the autism spectrum may not only have difficulty understanding how other people emote. They may have difficulty understanding their own emotions, too. Mood Meter is specifically designed to help people get in touch with their emotions. You use it to gauge your feelings each day or at regular intervals throughout the day. Look back and identify any patterns and grow your emotional vocabulary.

A website/mobile app that can teach children the rewards of earning money for chores and jobs determined by parents. The site can link to bank savings accounts for savings, and amazon.com for spending, once the child has earned the appropriate number of points.

The Special Education’s Newspaper for beginning readers and special needs students. Every US school week, students can connect with the world through concise symbol-supported news articles, puzzles, games and recipes.

The newspaper is designed for teaching and expanding literacy skills, from basic awareness of symbols and print to reading fluently with comprehension.

Introduces early math concepts to children aged 1 through 6.

Present a Choice is an app designed to help a parent or caregiver quickly present a set of choices to a special needs or young child. Great for when a child is upset and having more trouble verbalizing.

Proloquo2Go is an app specifically designed for people who are nonverbal. It promotes language development and allows people to communicate through the use of pictures. It’s designed not only for children with autism, but their families, therapists, and educators. It presents users with images they’re most likely to use and has a level-based system for basic to advanced vocabularies.

This program covers 80 of the most common safety signs and words used in our communities.

Install support is available at http://conovercompany.com/education/mobile-technology/applications

Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children is a nationwide initiative aimed at communities with children ages 2 to 5. Developed with input from parents, people who serve the autism community, and people with autism, See Amazing in All Children offers families ways to overcome common challenges and simplify everyday activities.

A mindfulness, meditation and compassion-building tool that is simple and easy to use. Check in to how you are thinking and feeling, and select emotions that guide you to recommended meditations.

App teaches addition and subtraction using a visual approach. The hands-on, count-as-you go approach is a natural extension of early counting skills, presented with powerful simplicity.

A word game that challenges children (ages 7+) to match pairs of opposing words in increasingly difficult levels. Includes a customized dictionary, helps children understand word-context, and supports reading, writing and oral literacy skills.

This app focuses on helping kids read body language and understand emotions by looking at pictures and figuring out which person is expressing a given emotion.

TouchChat is a full-featured communication solution for individuals who have difficulty using their natural voice. TouchChat is designed for individuals with Autism, Down Syndrome, ALS, apraxia, stroke, or other conditions that affect a person’s ability to use natural speech.

Social skills app has 56 illustrated picture flash cards (plus audio of each card text). Select the cards you want child/student to see, and have them ask and answer questions about all aspects of home life.

WH Questions is a multi-player game designed specifically to help kids answer and ask WH questions. Designed by a certified speech-language pathologist, WH Questions features over 400 WH opportunities to answer and ask real-world questions.

Customization allows the adult to tailor WH Questions for the child’s specific needs.

If you believe this app would be effective for your family (or student) but find it is too costly, there are opportunities available for financial assistance, including your local Board of Developmental Disabilities. Contact our Helpdesk for more information.

A therapeutic tool designed to work on answering questions presented both auditorily and in writing. Five levels of increasing difficulty include answering questions about objects, color, shape, categories, verbs, features and comparisons. This app is designed in collaboration with a Speech Language Pathologist.