It’s important for both parents and teachers to know how they can promote better language development in children or teens with autism who are nonverbal. There have been a number of emerging strategies that focus on helping them improve their communication skills, but there is some very good news for those struggling families: recent research has produced excellent ways to help these individuals communicate through technology.
A number of apps, smartphones, and tablets are opening up some new worlds for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). People worldwide are now discovering not only immersion and independence but also finding their voices via an ever-expanding array of devices and apps. However, the wide range of autism-related apps can be overwhelming. So, how can you go about narrowing them down and figuring out which might work the best?
Well, we’re going to help you with that. However, prior to sharing our top picks, it’s very important to understand that each and every autistic person is unique. Even with an abundance of concerted effort, there’s just no single strategy that will work well for all autistic children. What works for one might not work for another. And, although everybody with autism is capable of learning to communicate, it isn’t always with spoken language. Nonverbal autistic individuals have a lot that they can contribute to society. Each one can be living a fulfilling life through the help of assistive technologies and visual supports.
Methodology Used to Find Apps
The optimum method for finding the best apps for autistic kids is to trust the experts, like Autism Parenting Magazine, where they offer an extensive list of apps, including the following app groupings:
- Autism Awareness and News
- Autism Support Group
- Behavioral Intervention Plans
- Educational Apps for Kids and Parents
- Functional Skills
- Game and Entertainment for Kids
- Health Management
- Math Games and Math Skills
- Problem Solving Activities and Games
- Social Stories and Social Skills
- Speech and Communication for Autism
Other Excellent Resources for Finding the Best Autism Apps
Healthline.com’s Best Autism Apps for 2020
Why Each App Made the List
What qualities go into making a popular app for autistic spectrum disorder? Ease-of-use, age group, cost, and teaching methods are the main criteria. So, here are our choices of some excellent and highly-rated autistic apps:
App #1: Endless Reader by Originator Inc.
This autistic app is a follow-up to a popular app for autistic spectrum disorder called “Endless Alphabet” and is well-known for promoting early reading success. It does so via the introduction of “sight words”. One of the initial steps, when children learn to read is being able to recognize sight words because they’re words that are commonly used in children’s books. So, that’s where Endless Reader starts. This app plus the first word package are free and it utilizes both fun sounds and colorful monsters for keeping kids engaged and entertained.
Operating System: Android, iPad, Mac
Age Range: Ages up to 8-years old.
Cost: Free with purchase of add-ons
Reviews, accolades, or endorsements
~ Recommended by Healthline.com’s Best Autism Apps for 2020
App #2: Autism Therapy with MITA (Mental Imagery Therapy for Autism)
This is an early-intervention app for kids with ASD that’s a unique approach for supplementing their regular therapy It includes unlimited cognitive and language exercises that have been specially designed for lasting four-years or more. Recommended by physicians for children with ASD starting at two years old.
Operating System: Android & iOS
Age Range: 3+
Cost: Free
Reviews, accolades, or endorsements:
– Healthline’s Best Autism App of 2017
– Used by 150,000 children w/ ASD
App #3: Cuedin
Cuedin is an educational app from Early Intervention that was designed for kids with special needs as well as slow learners. It’s a fact that the majority of students who have disabilities can (and do) benefit from technology. The use of technology has already been proven to be the great equalizer in classrooms filled with diverse learners as well as among autistic children. Although there are thousands of apps for ASD available today, Cuedin was specially built for kids with special needs and with a great deal of input from a number of experts in the field.
Operating System: Android
Age Range: 2 to 8
Cost: $2.99 to $22.99 (Free 30-day trial)
Reviews, accolades, or endorsements from reputable autism-related organizations
Highly rated by Autism Speaks
App #4: Match it up from MyFirstApp Ltd.
This app for ASD helps children with the development of cognitive skills like categorization, and with visual perception skills. With their parents’ help, they can develop their overall language skills, such as naming the colors and the objects. And, this autistic app is also available in 12 languages.
Operating System: iPhone, iWatch, iPad
Cost: App Bundle $8.99
Age Range: 3+ Years
App #5: Proloquo2Go
This is a symbol-based app for ASD that helps children learn to express themselves by putting their development first and using innovative features that have all been based upon both user research and clinical knowledge. It’s also designed for supporting all users from beginners to more advanced as well as being customizable with a special versatility that’s useful for non-verbal people with ASD. This app also lets users choose from 100 voices that range from friendly children’s voices to adult voices and even bilingual voices. Available not only in English, but also in Dutch, Spanish, and French. You can use Dropbox, AirDrop, or iTunes File Sharing to share user-created folders and buttons between users on a number of different devices. This app for ASD may cost quite a bit more than some of the others but it also does so much more as well.
Operating System: iOS 12.4 and watch OS 5.0 or later. Also Works on Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad.
Age Range: Ages 5 and up
Cost: $249.99
Reviews, accolades, or endorsements:
Proloquo2Go offers expert assistance to children with ASD who are nonverbal with voices that are natural-sounding and speech that can be generated with just typing a word or simply tapping a button. Many consumers have been reporting behavior, communication, and general well-being improvements after use.
