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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Apps for AACtion

Here is a list of apps I have been using to get kids talking with their Augmentative and Alternative AAC apps:

SpeakaZoo is a free app where the child is a zoo keeper who goes from animal to animal having
conversations.  The characters are fun even for older kids and after the animal talks to you there is unlimited time to formulate an answer, hold down the microphone key and reply.  A great way to work on conversational turn taking, problem solving, answering questions and even some social skills.

Don't Let the Pigeon Run this App is a $4.99 app which is a take off of the Mo Willems book series.  What is great about this app for AAC users is that you record your "voice" as part of writing the story and then you hear it read back.

Draw and Tell is a $1.99 drawing and painting app by Duck Duck Moose that adds a whole new aspect -
recording a message to go with your drawing.  Perhaps more fun is your student adding stickers and drawing on photographs (or your student directing you to add stickers and drawings to photos) and then recording a message to go with the embellished photo.

Tell About This come in a free and paid version for $2.99 which is well worth the money.  The app simply shows a photograph and asks a question about it.  The question is read aloud with highlighting.  Your student records an answer which can be saved and shared.  Even cooler you can add your own photos with your own prompts.  So fun to take pictures of common routines or unique evens and ask students to create messages on their devices to tell about them.

Sparklefish is a MadLibs style app that uses an audio recording of the words you chose instead of just typing
them in.  Your recorded word is then inserted into the story.  Great for working on parts of speech or working in groups.

Chatterpix Kids, Chatterpix and Facetalk are all free apps with add an animated mouth which speaks your student's recorded audio to photographs.

2 comments:

  1. app utvikling

    I januar 2012 startet jeg Appsonite AS og senere på året sa jeg opp min faste jobb. Jeg har nå laget rundt 50-60 apper. 30 av disse er i egen portefølje. Jeg har hatt flere topp 10 apper i Norge, og har siden starten lært uhorvelig mye om hva som fungerer og hva som ikke fungerer i app store.

    Jeg har nå et team på 3-4 personer som hjelper meg å designe og utvikle apper. Disse har jobbet med meg nesten fra starten. Vi har nå godt innarbeidede rutiner og vet hva som fungerer.

    Mange ganger har jeg hørt folk si at alle apper er jo laget. Er det behov for flere? Det var de samme som sa at alt var gjort på internett i 2003, så kom Facebook, Youtube..etc. Vi er nok enda bare i starten på mobil applikasjoner og bruken av dem.

    Ønsker du å jobbe med et lite, men eksklusivt app firma, ta kontakt med oss. Hvis du ønsker å lage det beste, og få mest ut av ideen din, så må man tenke gjennom prosjektet nøye og planlegge godt. Vi må skjønne nøyaktig hva du ønsker, og så lager vi et utkast til en nydelig mobil applikasjon. Vi gir oss ikke før du er 100% fornøyd. Vi jobber helst med seriøse bedrifter og personer som setter krav til sitt produkt og ønsker å lage det beste. Website: www.appsonite.no

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  2. This is a very informative blog post that gives a summary of the great apps that are out there to use for AAC and encourage language skills and production- in and out of the therapy room. I will definitely keep these apps in mind for the future. It is great that apps like this exist and are continuously being invented and improved. These apps also aren't expensive which is also a great thing.

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