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Top 10 iPad Apps for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

When teaching students with autism spectrum disorders, it’s important to take the engagement to the next level. The iPad can be a very effective tool to support that process. Researchers found that iPad-based interventions are successful at promoting certain skills, such as instrumental request, for students with autism spectrum disorders. They advocate the need for individualized educational programming that affects the specific needs of each student. These devices can help with that, too. The teacher is put in a tricky position: what apps should they choose? Some iPad apps may have a counter effect on the students’ engagement. That’s why it’s important to test various apps to see how your students respond to them. We’ll suggest 10 great ones to try.

1. Pictello

With Pictello, you and your students can easily create, share, and playback talking books and visual stories. The app offers multiple benefits for students with autism spectrum disorders: It helps them develop writing and spelling skills with a built-in word prediction feature; It highlights the text word-by-word, so it supports the development of reading skills; The Speak as You Type feature makes them more confident in writing and speaking. Each page of your Pictello story can contain a brief video, a picture, short text, and recorded sound. You can develop stories that help them remember events, develop social skills, or learn anything.  

2. Autism & Beyond

Duke University developed this app in accordance with a groundbreaking study of childhood mental health. The study tested the way video technology could analyze the emotions and behavior of a child, so it could screen tantrums and anxiety episodes. The app is designed for children between one and six years old. It offers video activities while the iPad camera records the child’s responses, as well as surveys for the parent. Since it’s mostly convenient for use at home, you can recommend it to the parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. Their participation in the study will help the researchers to develop new ways of supporting the children’s development.

3. Speech Journal

With this app, you can create books that combined images with recorded voices. You and your students can use it to create talking photo albums, short stories, expressive language exercises, illustrated tasks, and more. All you need to do is take a photo or use one from the iPad’s photo album, and create a voice recording to accompany it.

4. The Social Express

This is an online interactive program with a purpose to address the social and learning challenges these students face. It can help them develop foundational skills for social and emotional learning. There’s an entire curriculum with online and offline activities to support that process. Through the iOS app, your students will be helping fun characters to solve social problems. Each lesson is interactive and targeted at teaching specific social skills.

5. FlummoxVision

Flummox and Friends is a TV show specifically aimed at children with emotional and social challenges. Professor Flummox and his friends are creating inventions that help them understand the great mystery: other people. It’s a live-action comedy that makes them laugh and learn at the same time. Through this app, your students can watch the show on their iPads.

6. Time Timer

This visual countdown clock is very useful for helping students understand how much time they have for an activity. It will help your students feel relaxed knowing they still have time to solve a task, but it will also make them more engaged, knowing that the time is limited.

7. Model Me Going Places

With this app, you will help your students learn how to behave in different locations, such as the doctor’s office, mall, hairdresser, restaurant, grocery store, and playground. The app is based on the Model Me Going Places DVD project. It includes descriptive text for the photos, as well as audio narration.

8. Toca Store

This app makes math less challenging for the students. How? It encourages them to play store. All children love stores. Now, they can run their own place and get into the roles of both the customer and storekeeper. They will learn how to make buying choices, count, and do some math with the money. You can use Toca Store for team challenges, too. The app is great for encouraging the students to interact with each other as they set up the store and decide on what to buy together.

9. Stories2Learn

With this app, you can create personalized stories for your students. The stories will feature photos, audio messages, and text. When you’re trying to cater to a student’s individual needs, you can develop a story that will address their social challenges. For example, you can teach non-verbal communication, school rules, playground rules, and more. It’s a great app to recommend to their parents for home use, too.

10. Endless Reader

This app is based on the sight words teaching technique. It combines fun animations with visual and audio material, which helps the child connect the written with the spoken word. Once they see the animation, the students can move the letters into the word, so they will spell it correctly. As they move the letter, the app reinforces the appropriate phonetic sound. The best thing about this app is that it doesn’t involve high scores, limits, or failures that would stress out your students. It’s a relaxed environment that encourages them to try over and over again.   All of these apps are full of visual content, which makes the lessons easier to teach. If you have iPads available in the classroom, it’s time to start using their full potential. Try the apps listed above and pick the ones that would work for your students. Brenda Savoie is a private English tutor, proud member of best essay writers team, and desperate dreamer. Writing her first romance novel. Seeking contentment through mindfulness. Check her blog BestWritingClues. Find her on Twitter and Facebook