Tzvi Schectman
Products 
Company: AssistiveWare
Price: $189
Rating: 4 ½ Starts (284 Ratings)
Proloque2Go is the most well known of of all the assistive communications apps on the iPad. It is also one of the priciest. Still the $689 you spend ($500 for iPad and $189 for Proloque2go) is far cheaper than dedicated AAC devices. Proloque2Go is a full-featured augmentative and alternative communication solution for autistic children who have difficulty speaking. Easy to set up and use it provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices, high resolution up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7,000 items and is fully expandable. The app is very easy for individuals with special needs to navigate through the menus. It has a beautiful graphic display and great voice quality. Proloque2Go is definitely a better bet on an iPad than an iPhone or iPad.
Company: Grembe Inc.
Price: $49.99
Rating: 4½ Stars (22)
iCommunicate for iPad allows you to create pictures, flashcards, storyboards, routines, visual schedules and record custom audio in any language. Aside from beeing an AAC device iCommunicate also includes task completion and audio visual prompting. iCommunicate comes preloaded with 10,000 symblstix pictures. You also have the ability to insert Google images and the story boards are printable. One negative is that this app is for the iPad only. The feature set is definitley not as robust as Proloque2Go, but you get what you pay for.
Company: Bappz
Price: Free Upgrade: $7.99
Rating: 3½ Stars (81)
Looking to get your feet wet with an AAC app without forking over big bucks? iComm may be for you. iComm lets you load picture and audio and record your own voices. Ideal for children with autism, cerebral palsy, apraxia and down syndrome. A heads up, although this app is free a lot of the features are only available with a $7.99 upgrade so be prepared to layout something. Another downer is that iComm only works with the iPad and iPhone and not the iPod Touch.
Company: 2nd Half Enterprises LLC
Price: $39.99
Rating: 4 Stars (18)
My Talk Tools Mobile for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad enables people with communication difficulties to express their needs and desires to those around them. My Talk Mobile represents a major breakthrough in augmentative, alternative communications (AAC) by making it easy to customize how you communicate through a variety of images, pictures, symbols and audio files including human voice. In 5 minutes, you can create your very own content and communicate in a way that YOU choose. My Talk offers a robust feature set for the price. The app can also be shown on an external display making it great for school.
Company: MDR
Ratings: 3½ Stars (22)
Price: $14.99
Look2Learn (L2L), a revolutionary AAC software application for the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad 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! This is a good app for beginners not willing to shell out more money. One thing to concerned about is that the app can only hold 140 pictures.
Company: Spectrum Visions
Price: $29.99
Rating: 4 Stars (22)
Voice4u, is a revolutionary AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) application that helps individuals to express their feeling, thought, actions and things they need. It is a perfect solution for learning and communication for autistic individuals and people around them. With it, you will never have to guess at an individuals' wants and needs and will break down the barriers of communication for individuals with special needs. Two complaints about Voice4U are that the illustrations are not the best and that you are limited to 9 categories.
Company: Xcellent Creations
Price: $9.99
Rating: 3 Stars (49)
iConverse is an educational tool designed for young children, autistic individuals, and individuals with other communicative disabilities, and also toddler-aged children who have yet to master language. iConverse is an Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that replaces bulky and expensive communication devices used in the past. iConverse comes with only 6 preloaded image buttons so you will need to do some button making work before you can use it. It also does not come with a scheduler to help with transitions. 
7 Assistive Communication Apps in the iPad App Store
Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Augmentative communication (AAC for short) is an alternative way to help students and adults with language disorders use expressive language or receptive language. Augmentative communication can be accomplished through assistive technology devices such as computers or hand held devices. Twenty years ago if your child was non-verbal your resources where very limited. Advanced communication was limited to low technology such as picture communication systems and sign language. Fast forward to 2011 and the iPad has revolutionized the assistive communication world. At an affordable price, the easy to use iPad has become the most recommended device when an assistive communication device is needed. In the iPad app store there are numerous applications available for individuals with special needs. Here are seven assistive communication apps for the iPad that you may find useful:Proloquo2Go
Company: AssistiveWare
Price: $189
Rating: 4 ½ Starts (284 Ratings)
Proloque2Go is the most well known of of all the assistive communications apps on the iPad. It is also one of the priciest. Still the $689 you spend ($500 for iPad and $189 for Proloque2go) is far cheaper than dedicated AAC devices. Proloque2Go is a full-featured augmentative and alternative communication solution for autistic children who have difficulty speaking. Easy to set up and use it provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices, high resolution up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7,000 items and is fully expandable. The app is very easy for individuals with special needs to navigate through the menus. It has a beautiful graphic display and great voice quality. Proloque2Go is definitely a better bet on an iPad than an iPhone or iPad.
iCommunicate for iPad
Company: Grembe Inc.
Price: $49.99
Rating: 4½ Stars (22)
iCommunicate for iPad allows you to create pictures, flashcards, storyboards, routines, visual schedules and record custom audio in any language. Aside from beeing an AAC device iCommunicate also includes task completion and audio visual prompting. iCommunicate comes preloaded with 10,000 symblstix pictures. You also have the ability to insert Google images and the story boards are printable. One negative is that this app is for the iPad only. The feature set is definitley not as robust as Proloque2Go, but you get what you pay for.
iComm
Company: Bappz
Price: Free Upgrade: $7.99
Rating: 3½ Stars (81)
Looking to get your feet wet with an AAC app without forking over big bucks? iComm may be for you. iComm lets you load picture and audio and record your own voices. Ideal for children with autism, cerebral palsy, apraxia and down syndrome. A heads up, although this app is free a lot of the features are only available with a $7.99 upgrade so be prepared to layout something. Another downer is that iComm only works with the iPad and iPhone and not the iPod Touch.
My Talk Tools Mobile
Company: 2nd Half Enterprises LLC
Price: $39.99
Rating: 4 Stars (18)
My Talk Tools Mobile for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad enables people with communication difficulties to express their needs and desires to those around them. My Talk Mobile represents a major breakthrough in augmentative, alternative communications (AAC) by making it easy to customize how you communicate through a variety of images, pictures, symbols and audio files including human voice. In 5 minutes, you can create your very own content and communicate in a way that YOU choose. My Talk offers a robust feature set for the price. The app can also be shown on an external display making it great for school.
Look2Learn - AAC
Company: MDR
Ratings: 3½ Stars (22)
Price: $14.99
Look2Learn (L2L), a revolutionary AAC software application for the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad 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! This is a good app for beginners not willing to shell out more money. One thing to concerned about is that the app can only hold 140 pictures.
Voice4U
Company: Spectrum Visions
Price: $29.99
Rating: 4 Stars (22)
Voice4u, is a revolutionary AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) application that helps individuals to express their feeling, thought, actions and things they need. It is a perfect solution for learning and communication for autistic individuals and people around them. With it, you will never have to guess at an individuals' wants and needs and will break down the barriers of communication for individuals with special needs. Two complaints about Voice4U are that the illustrations are not the best and that you are limited to 9 categories.
iConverse
Company: Xcellent Creations
Price: $9.99
Rating: 3 Stars (49)
iConverse is an educational tool designed for young children, autistic individuals, and individuals with other communicative disabilities, and also toddler-aged children who have yet to master language. iConverse is an Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that replaces bulky and expensive communication devices used in the past. iConverse comes with only 6 preloaded image buttons so you will need to do some button making work before you can use it. It also does not come with a scheduler to help with transitions.
The Special Needs iPad & App Series
This post is part two of the Special Needs iPad & App Series. In only one year the Apple iPad has revolutionized the tech industry. 15 Million iPads have been sold and estimates are that within the next 3 years over 115 million tablets will be shipped. Dozens if not hundreds of applications have been created that enhance the quality of life for individuals with all types of disabilities. To try and make sense of all of this we have put together a nine part series on the iPad and useful applications. The Series contains:- The Special Needs iPad & App Series: Welcome
- 7 Assistive communication (AAC) apps for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
- 7 Scheduling and Behavioral Apps to help with transitions and more
- 11 Social Skills & Life Skills Apps in iPad App Store
- 10 Websites to Find Special Needs Apps for the iPad & iPhone
- 7 Special Needs Apps in the Google Android Market
- On a tight budget? 7 ways to get an ipad for your child with special needs
- 6 steps to get the iPad into your child’s special education classroom
- 4 Special Needs iPad/iPhone Apps for the Future
More Special Needs Apps
Looking for more special needs apps? Check out the Special Needs App Review! With over a thousand apps now available to help individuals with special needs it has become increasingly difficult to find and choose the right special needs app. The Friendship Circle App Review gives you the ability to find the perfect special needs app for your child. 
