7 Apps for Adolescents with Special Needs

We have ‘grown up’ with many of our students and their families.  We have learned from the students themselves, their parents, siblings, teachers, and their other SLP’s, OT’s, & ABA therapists. So when we recently met with a terrific mom and contemporary ABA therapist, we needed to speak about apps for adolescents (goals and activities had been discussed previously).  The student communicates and organizes herself through natural speech, the Dynavox Maestro, apps on the iTouch, & apps on the  iPad.  The student is now 16 and she cooks amazing food, hikes through the mountains of Switzerland, takes inventory for her school, types shopping lists, puts together scrapbooks, and does a lot more really cool things.  Here is the list of apps we recommended to support her favorite leisure &  literacy activities, and quest to be more & more independent. We only stopped giving more apps when ALL of us were getting overwhelmed with the amount of apps available. We thought it was better to make sure the apps would be used rather than have a long list. We will talk next month anyway…

Supporting Leisure & Literacy Activities

Easy Bake Treats– FREE- baking a lot of different desserts which can be shared via email and Facebook. And if you remember easy bake oven as a kid, it just makes the whole experience better.

Craft Studio– FREE- beautiful scrapbooking digitally but feels so real with glue before glitter, background choices, writing with different types of pencils/markers.

Feel Electric– FREE- Focus on a variety of emotions that range from simple (happy) to complex (disappointed). Feels electric is simple to use but helps facilitate knowledge and understanding of concepts needed for emotional and self regulation.

iSpoke Flash Cards– $4.49- Flashcards with age appropriate pictures and international types of animals.

Computer Based App

Typingweb– FREE- to improve speed of computer typing skills to be used for possible data entry jobs.

Independence 

Choice Works– $14.99- Helps teach following a schedule, waiting, and emotional regulation. We were using this to help the student learn to set the timer for activities and managing overall time and expectations

Shredder– .99c- Visual cue for ‘shredding’ thoughts or words that are negative or may be overused. Part of the SOSH apps that focus on social skills through  cognitive behavioral strategies