PrAACtical Resources: Comparing AAC Apps

Seasoned AAC professionals are well aware of need to select AAC apps based on the goodness-of-fit between the app itself and the needs and abilities of the communicator. An app that works very well for one person may be completely inadequate for another. As SLPs, one of the main things we look at carefully is how language is represented and structured within the app.

A few years back, Robin Parker and I developed an informal tool to help us be more systematic in our analysis of different AAC apps. The Rubric for Evaluating the Language of Apps for AAC (RELAAACS, pronounced “relax”) allows us to think about the various communication functions and make some judgments about how well a particular app performs in each area. It can be used and distributed freely with attribution.

One caveat in using this or other app rubrics: Be sure to note the version of the app that is being evaluated as they may differ significantly. Note any in-app purchases, as well, since some may change the language functionality of the app quite significantly.