HomeThere’s An App for That!
Published in the Hands & Voices Communicator, Fall 2011
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Deaf and Hard of Hearing Related Apps
Adapted Book- 5 Pumpkins ($.99)- an interactive book using a sign language interpreter to tell and model the story of the 5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate
Alphabet Tracer ($1.99) Learn the shapes, signs (in ASL and British), and sounds of the alphabet
ASL Dictionary ($2.99) An ASL sign language dictionary that has 4,800 signs, common English phrases, and numerical system.
ASL Word Match ($2.99) ASL Word Match tests your knowledge of five basic and five more advanced ASL handshapes. The challenge is to match an English word with the handshape used when producing the signed equivalent in ASL. This game is appropriate for students in ASL II or above. It is also a great game for families learning ASL together.
AutismXpress, by StudioEmotion Pty Ltd, Inc.: While this app was developed to help autistic children communicated their feelings through cartoon facial expressions, hearing impaired children and health educators can also benefit from this fun and useful iPad app.
Axio ST by Starkey (free) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/axio-st.html Learn about hearing loss and hearing loss solutions, including our Axio ST featuring SpeechTrax, the newest noise reduction and speech preservation system. So fast and smart, it reduces the noise between the syllables of speech. Hearing loss demos and educational resources.
Captionfish (free) – Captioned movie search engine that gives information about open captioned, Rear Window ® captioned, foreign/subtitled, and descriptively narrated movies showing in the US.
Captionfish Trailers (Free) – Shows trailers of movies with captioning.
Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy ($2.99) by iStoryTime- a children’s book illustrated and narrated, and also has an interpreter signing the story. Cool
Decibel Ultra (Free) – Measures the volume and helps you figure out how big the noise level compared to same values. Ultra decibel measures the sound pressure level with built in microphone.
Ear Trumpet by Praxis BioScience ($1.99) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/eartrumpet.html The hearing enhancer amplifies and adjusts sound to discretely improve hearing via the earphones attached to an iPhone or iPod.
Hearing Check by RNID (free) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/hearing-check.html - Hearing Check is a quick, simple and completely confidential way to check your hearing, without the trek to the doctor’s waiting room. Check your ears today! Our check is scientifically verified and is the best method of checking your hearing without seeing a medical professional.
S Series iQ by Starkey Laboratories (free) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/s-series-iq.html Learn about hearing loss and hearing loss solutions, including our S Series iQ featuring Voice iQ, the newest noise reduction and speech preservation system. So fast and smart, it reduces the noise between the syllables of speech. Also has hearing loss sound demonstrations and educational resources.
iASL ($1.99) – Translates English to grammatically correct American Sign Language. Features a video dictionary of more than 5,800 signs. Has a conversational phrase bank.
iSign ($4.99) - Expanded version of iSign Lite. Animated phrase book of 800 ASL gestures. Signs can be added and removed from list of favorites. Also has a quiz feature.
Now NT by Starkey (free) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/now-nt.html Learn about hearing loss and hearing loss solutions, including our NOW NT featuring Noise Tranquility, the newest noise reduction and speech preservation system. So fast and smart, it reduces the noise between the syllables of speech.
Senses-What do you hear? (free) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/senses-what-u-hear.html The system is designed to conduct hearing screening, mainly in children and youth. The examination uses audiometric tone test procedure and testing speech intelligibility in noise.
Siemens Hearing Test (free) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/siemens-hearing-test.html The Hearing Test was created by audiology experts at Siemens to help you determine whether you have hearing impairment.
iSign Lite (Free) – Small and free version of iSign. Has simple sign language vocabulary. This one has animated 3D characters that demonstrating the signs. Signs can be added and removed from list of favorites. Also has a quiz feature.
Sign 4 Me for iPad – A Signed English Translator by Vcom3D: Featuring a full-body avatar, this app for the hearing impaired contains over 11,500 sign language words. $12.99.
Sign Language! by EverydayASL.com: This free iPad app features a deaf instructor on video who will teach you the alphabet, numbers and colors in sign language.
Sign Language: Fun Learning for Kids! ($4.99)- lively and engaging video app, experienced sign-language instructor Rachel Briley leads children through a range of signs, including proper American Sign Language for letters, numbers, animals, family members, transportation modes, nature scenes and salutations. She teaches children how to couple facial expressions with signs to ask and answer questions and even how to sign popular songs, like The Wheels on the Bus, 5 Little Monkeys and Itsy Bitsy Spider!
Starkey Laboratories Hearing Loss Simulator - ($1.99) - You choose the hearing loss configuration from a list of possible audiogram. Click on the figure of a man, woman, or child to hear them read a paragraph being as though you had loss you choose from the list. Click on pictures located on the audiogram to hear them at as though you had the loss you chose.
uHear by Unitron Hearing Limited (free) http://appfinder.lisisoft.com/app/uhear.html hearing loss screening test to determine if you are at risk
Z4 Mobile (Free) – Allows deaf and hard of hearing people to make and receive point-to-point calls to and from any videophone.
Communication Apps
Dragon Dictation (free) – Voice recognition application that allows you to speak and instantly see your text.
iComm (Free) - is a picture and voice communication aid for children. Has many empty frames for you to add personal content. Can be upgraded to include more features.
Icommunicate ($49.99) – Over 10,00 SymbolStix images for making flashcards, storyboards, routines, and visual schedules. Record custom audio in any language.
Converts any word with Text to Speech that do not have custom audio recorded.
Iconverse ($9.99) – augmentative alternative communication app. Comes with 6 built in communication tiles that represent a person’s most basic needs. When touch, the icon gives both auditory and visual representation of the need or want. Your own voice can be recorded.
iPrompts®XL ($49.99) – Includes picture schedules, visual countdown timer, choice prompts, and starter image library.
Look2Learn-ACC ($14.99)- allows individuals to work at their communicative level using photographs to express wants and needs. The easy to use system integrates preloaded vocal output so that individuals can use their “voice”. In addition, users are able to record their own personalized audio and pair it with photos! Many features to this app as well as good reviews
The Proloquo2Go The Proloquo2Go ($189.99)- app is ideal for patients who have difficulty speaking. This is an augmentative and alternative communication device that has a vocabulary of more than seven thousand words, current symbols and a text to speech feature. The menu allows users to choose the type of communication they want to pursue such as requests for help, questions, basic communications, or the ability to search by word category
Quick Voice Recorder (Free) – Voice Recorder for recording voice memos, voice email, dictation, lists, meetings, classes, or entire lectures.
Speak it Text to Speech ($1.99) – text to speech app. Reads e-mails, favorites, news articles documents and more.
Speaking and Listening Games HD ($22.99) 51 sheets to help preschool and primary kids develop listening and attention skills, understand language and develop expressive language. Games to stimulate language skills
Tap to Talk (free) – augmentative and alternative communication app. Just tap the picture and Taptotalk speaks.
Schedules/Notes
Picture Scheduler ($2.99) – task organizer for individuals with disabilities. Allows you to create picture, text, video or audio task (or combine them)
Awesome note Lite (+Todo) ( free) – Notes plus to do app. Create regular notes or notes with photos attached.
SLP Specific Apps
Articulate It ($39.99) Articulate it! is an application designed to help children practice their pronunciation skills. Articulate it! is Smarty Ears' brand new app that allows speech therapists and parents work towards improving the speech of children with speech delays.
ArtikPix - ArtikPix Full ($29.99) – practice speech sounds in flashcard and matching activities. *articulation & phonology
Fluency Tracker ($8.99) – Individuals are able to track changes in the frequency of disfluency, changes in avoidance, behaviors, and feelings associated with speaking.
iSpeech for iPad ($3.99)- Wrapped up in a fun and attractive user interface, sounds are organized by the ages at which they should have developed, giving you benchmarks for where your child should be developmentally. Any problem sounds can then be selected to display the teaching information for that sound.
Pocket SLP Articulation (29.99) – A multisensory approach to articulation drills. Has over 2,100 high-quality flashcards that target both the words and sentence level clients and children.
Smart Oral Motor (9.99) – Application for children who need to practice oral motor skills. Includes 15 oral motor exercises, auditory information and fun animations.
SLP Goal Bank ($14.99)- designed to serve as a starting point to speech and language pathologists when creating goals for children and adults with speech and language delay.
Smarty Speech ($19.99) – Application for children with articulation difficulties. Has over 936 words with images.
Speech With Milo ($2.99) App developed by a speech pathologist to help develop sequencing skills. Simple 3 step sequencing stories, in which the children place in order, then play a clip reading and showing the phrase.
Speech Hangman ($2.99)- an animated and educational variation of Hangman with a speech twist. The game is geared toward school-aged children with speech difficulties or typically-developing children for practice in saying their sounds. Words and phrases to be guessed in the game include an optional pre-recorded voice before articulation practice.
Speech Squares ($2.99)- Talking Tails brings to you an animated and educational strategy game for articulation practice. Drag your finger between carrots and try to complete a square to get a point. Get the most points to win! The game is geared toward school-aged children with speech difficulties or typically-developing children for practice in saying their sounds. Words are presented with an optional and included prerecorded voice before articulation practice.
Speech Therapy to Go (free)- A handy pocket guide to pronunciation of common English-language consonants, for patients and therapists alike. Just touch the letters for pronunciation.
Sunny Articulation Test ($34.99) – Individually administered clinical tool for screening, identification, diagnosis and follow-up evaluation of articulation skills in English speaking individuals.
Tiga Talk Speech Therapy Games ($4.99)- a fun way for children to develop speech sounds through playful voice-controlled games that can improve speech clarity, articulation, and instill confidence. The app is for parents and speech therapists working with toddlers and children with language delays, as well as any parent looking to give their child a head start in early language development.
Tongue Twisters Free- a collection of 150 tongue twisters for speech practice
WhQuestions ($14.99) App designed to help children learn how to answer wh questions. link
Alphabet Recognition/Vocabulary/Language
ABC Shakedown (free)- ABC Shakedown is a Reading Readiness Program using digital flashcards with easy prompts and a cool "shake" feature. Letters are viewed in a slideshow format with user friendly prompts to shake your way from A to Z. The game is based on a tried and true, educationally sound technique of seeing each letter of the alphabet while hearing the corresponding sound each letter makes.
Language Builder ($3.99)- Language Builder is designed to help children accomplish the following educational goals: 1) Improve sentence ideation ; 2) Improve sentence formation; and 3) Improve receptive and expressive language. Extensive use of audio clips promotes improved auditory processing for special needs children with autism spectrum disorders or sensory processing disorders. Auditory playback of child's voice offers reinforcement for language development.
Sentence Builder ($3.99)- Sentence Builder is designed to help elementary aged children learn how to build grammatically correct sentences. Explicit attention is paid to the connector words that make up over 80% of the english language. Sentence Builder offers a rich and fun environment for improving the grammar of all children.
Smarty Pants School ($2.99) offers a carefully-structured series of games and activities designed to strengthen children’s early reading skills based on the scientific recommendations of the National Reading Panel.
Story Builder ($3.99)- Story Builder is designed to help children accomplish the following goals: 1) Improve paragraph formation; 2) Improve integration of ideas; and 3) Improve higher level abstractions by inference. Extensive use of audio clips promotes improved auditory processing for special needs children with autism spectrum disorders or sensory processing disorders. Story Builder offers a rich and fun environment for improving the ability to create a narrative.
Word SlapPs ($2.99)- Word SlapPs is used to teach vocabulary words specific to your child’s world with images that you choose. Upload and save your images into customizable categories and pair them with your own recorded questions. Easy to use, Word SLapPs is designed by an SLP and modeled after Discrete Trial teaching. Children touch target images and are rewarded with sounds and/or visuals. Target vocabulary words alone or with up to two other images to increase difficulty. Word SLapPs comes pre-loaded with color and animal categories to start with. Word SlapPs is recommended for SLP’s, teachers or parents.
Listening Skills
Sound Match (free)- classic memory game for the ears instead of the eyes
Sounds!- (free) sound effect app with over 50 sounds to practice identifying sounds
Audio Pairs ($.99) Train your brain and ears with a pair matching/concentration game where you have to match the sounds.
Spell and Listen Cards ($4.99)- the talking flashcards for spelling. Help spell, recognize and pronounce 550 everyday words.
Audio Sight Words ($.99)- Audio Sight Words introduces young learners to basic sight words. The audio feature adds a teacher dimension to the app. These audio sight word flashcards make great teaching resources for classroom and home. Preschool and kindergarten children learn early reading skills using these audio sight words flashcards.
Tap Sound *touch a cartoon picture, see a picture of the real object and hear the sound
Toddler Flashcards with Sound Effects ($1.99)- learn about animals, automobiles, and other objects with images and sound.
Phonics
iSpy Phonics ($1.99)- this app allows children to match phonic sounds with letters, through illustrations, pictures, and accurate pronunciation while playing the game of I Spy
PhonicsDojo ($1.99)- A game for teaching students phonics, sound letter relationships, and phonemic awareness
Phonics with Fred the little ted (free)- learn initial sounds with this app. Features a cute teddy bear.
Phonics Made Easy Flash Action ($4.99)- app has been developed to help children sharpen important phonics skills for reading success. Children will explore beginning and ending letter sounds, distinguish between long and short vowel sounds, pinpoint the rhyming families, work with letter blends, and more.
Phonics Jr. ($.99)- tool to teach the basics of reading and help build a strong foundation for spelling. There are four different areas for you to explore: short vowels, long vowels, blends, and consonants. Each section is interactive, where you see and can touch the letter(s) to hear the sound they make. Phonics Jr. teaches you the most common sounds in the English Language.
Phonics Flash Cards (free)- has 51 pages which include vowels, consonants, consonant blends, and digraphs. Each card features the letter and words that represent the sound. When your child taps the screen, they will hear the letter, the sound it makes, and four words that contain that sound combination.
Phonics Easy Reader HD 1-2-3-4 ($1.99 each)-
Phonics-Phonograms ($.99)- Phonograms teaches you the most common sounds in the English Language. Over 65 individual phonograms with sounds for each individual sound they make, (spoken by a certified teacher) Phonograms is the ideal tool to teach the basics of reading and help build a strong foundation for spelling. This interactive app, lets you see and touch the letter(s) to hear the sound they make.
Phonic Phil ($.99)- simple phonic game where kids can make up words (over 250) and hear each individual sound in the word.
Toddler Teasers Words ($1.99)- phonetic word game designed to teach toddlers how to read using a phonetic approach.
Reading
ICDL Free Books for Children - The International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) brings a worldwide collection of free children's books to the iPad. The largest collection of its kind, the ICDL spans the globe with thousands of children's books from over 60 countries, in a wide assortment of beautiful languages with captivating illustrations.
Zombies vs. Literacy ($1.99)- Stop zombies from eating your brain by learning early reading skills. Practice word families and sight words and you'll discover that your brain is too big to be eaten! Fun, interactive application to practice early reading skills. Swipe through the alphabet, word families and sight words. Touch letters to hear them spoken. Complete Dolch and Fry sight words (K-5) Interactive word stampede; drag letters back to make fix the word. Keep track of the frequency and date of word lists. Build a custom word list to practice.
Zap Phonics Reading Games (free)- Toddlers and preschoolers will learn the very basics of reading the right way by associating sounds with the correct letter symbols. This game teaches kids the sounds that letters make versus the names of the letters.
Other
Smithsonian Channel (free)- see original series, documentaries, cool facts and more. View full episodes and video clips of Smithsonian Channel programs. The channel explores the history of our planet, culture, and life with family-oriented content.
TED (free)- presents talks from some of the world’s most fascinating people. Over 900 TED talk videos from all over.
ABC Shakedown (free) * Alphabet with pictures, will say the letter and the sound of the letter. Shake the iPad to advance the letters randomly
Discovery News (free) **has news stories and video of events around the world *need internet access for news
Epic Sound Effects (free) *sound effects in categories, can be used for listening skills or as a reward.
Reviews/helpful comments on any of the items listed and additional apps are welcomed. Please send these directly to Ann Hughes, awhughes@vcu.edu