Being an itinerant speech-language pathologist (SLP), speech therapy apps have always been a major help for me since I have to lug everything from school to school. Now that many of us are doing teletherapy or returning to school with new sanitation guidelines, apps are more valuable than ever! I’ve rounded up all my favorite speech and language apps that I’ve used regularly over the years.
*Each suggestion includes a link to the app, the price, the rating, and the total number of ratings. Prices are subject to change and some may have more ratings at the time you view them.
FREE
– Tiny Decisions – Free – 4.7/5 Stars, 51.8K Ratings
Make interactive spinners by writing out your targets or using emojis for visuals. *Check out this post to see some of the spinners I’ve made along with more information on why I love this app!
– Toontastic– Free – 4.0/5 Stars, 660 Ratings
Great for social skills, story grammar, carryover, language, grammar. *Note- it takes a while to make a video so I usually carry it out over 2 sessions. Session one maps the video out with a story map/visuals, lists characters, setting, plot, etc. and then we practice or role play that day. Session two we typically record the video or finish recording the video. Then we review and work on the specific targets we are incorporating in that session. *Check out this post for more info on this app!
– Voice Recorder & Audio Editor – Free – 4.7, 208.8K Ratings
You can rename your samples, save, pause, rewind, and fastforward. This is great to use when taking data, doing progress monitoring, or recording assessment procedures. I like to record my students saying a specific set of words (sometimes I note that right in the title of the sample), I date it, then have the student do the same sample months later. It’s great to compare the samples to note progress.
– NotesWriter – Take Better Notes – Free – 4.5, 1.8K Ratings
This is what I use to annotate PDFs and do a lot of fun things to make PDFs interactive on the tablet. I take regular TPT activities (like these) and make them interactive on the iPad rather than printing them. *Check out this Instagram Story Highlight for more info and tutorials on this app! I also show even more ways to use this app in these videos.
– Apps Gone Free & Daily Tips – Free – 4.7, 14.2K Ratings
I check this every day at school. It lists free apps daily…most are paid apps that are only free for a short time. Most are irrelevant to speech-language therapy, but I’ve gotten some great ones through that app. You just have to wait and keep checking. You’ll find some really great ones on there! *Check out this post for more info on why I love this app!
– YT Kids – Free – 4.7/5 Stars, 885.9K Ratings
YouTUbe Kids app. You don’t have to worry about inappropriate ads.
– Charades Pictures – Free – 4.7/5 Stars, 355 Ratings
I love using this for describing/vocabulary and articulation carryover. I have the student describe the words rather than act them out.
– Fruit Ninja (Arcade mode) – Free – 4.0/5 Stars, 8.2K Ratings
I use “Arcade Mode” because it limits the time to 60 seconds so it’s a great reinforcer at the end of a session. Sometimes they earn bonus time, but just about 15-30 seconds. I like using this game compared to others because sometimes one turn can last forever. Our students are so good that they don’t ever “die” in the game. Having a time limit with a natural end of game is great!
– Toco Boca Hair Salon
Great for targeting lots of verbs, requesting, expanding utterances, describing, and following directions!
– Far West Train (Comolo Mola) – Free – 4.3/5 Stars, 509 Ratings
Great for targeting articulation at the word level, articulation carryover, grammar, vocabulary, receptive language, and social skills! I like to call programs like this “exploration apps”. They give you a lot of freedom to use them in a ton of different ways!
– Ocean (MarcoPolo) – Free – 4.6/5 Stars, 146 Ratings
Exploration app – Great for targeting articulation at the word level, articulation carryover, grammar, vocabulary, receptive language, and social skills!
– Arctic (MarcoPolo) – Free – 4.5/5 Stars, 53 Ratings
Exploration app – Great for targeting articulation at the word level, articulation carryover, grammar, vocabulary, receptive language, and social skills!
– Pirates (comomola) – Free – 4.5/5 Stars, 393 Ratings
*Check out this post for more info on why I absolutely LOVE this app and what goals I target using this!
ARTIC
– Little Bee Speech – Test Center Pro – $59.99 – 4.9/5 Stars, 29 Ratings
I use this all the time. You can record each individual word which is great for looking at progress monitoring over time. I use it a lot for my severe phono students and I use the “R-only” test to progress monitor my R students with recordings.
– Virtual Speech Center – Articulation Carnival – $36.99 – 3.0/5 Stars, 2 Ratings
I use this app a lot. I provides lots of practice and then short bursts of reinforcement.
– Speech Tutor – $19.99 – 3.9/5 Stars, 40 Ratings
– Speech Tutor Pro – $39.99 – 4.2/5 Stars, 23 Ratings
I have the Pro version (got it on sale for $9.99 a year or two ago) and I use the artic videos in the app daily! It’s easily one of my most-used apps. The articulation videos give students a sort of X-ray view into the oral cavity so they can see exactly how the tongue moves to make each sound. It is so helpful during teletherapy sessions as well.
– Silly Sentence & Multiple Choice Artic (Erik X. Raj) – $4.99 – 5.0/5 Stars, 3 Ratings
These are just silly and worth the low price point. My students love asking the questions, answering, then listening to the narrator answer the question. The narrator is a bit silly. Even my older elementary and lower middle-school students enjoy it!
– Multiple Choice Articulation – $4.99 – 4.7/5 Stars, 3 Ratings
Another silly one just like the one above. I think it’s worth spending the few dollars. It’s especially great for articulation at the reading, sentence and conversational levels. Sometimes when we finish a bit early I let my students be a bit silly with this app.
LANGUAGE
– WordToob: Language Learning – 3.8/5 Stars, 5 Ratings, Was paid, now FREE!
This app is incredible for using video modeling to target vocabulary, grammar, and AAC! I’ve been using it for years.
– Real Vocabulary (Virtual Speech Center Inc.) – $29.99 – 4.7/5 Stars, 7 Ratings
I really like all the vocab included in this. It uses real pictures and includes fun little games.
– Magical Concepts (Virtual Speech Center) – $9.99 – 2.8/5 Stars, 4 Ratings
Better for assessing/progress monitoring rather than teaching.
– Prepositions Journey (Virtual Speech Center) – $9.99 – 2.0/5 Stars, 2 Ratings
Better for assessing/progress monitoring rather than teaching.
– Sentence Workout (VSC ^) – $12.99 – 2.0/5 Stars, 1 Rating
More for writing and syntax goals.
– Verbs News (^Virtual Speech Center) – $9.99 – 2.0/5 Stars, 2 Ratings
I mainly just love all the verb pictures and my students love recording themselves as a reinforcer. Sometimes I turn off the reinforcement and use the visuals along with another activity, such as a board game.
Exploring Apps – TONS of great language opportunities
– Comomola Pirates– Free – 4.5/5 Stars, 393 Ratings
*Check out this post for more info on why I absolutely LOVE this app and what goals I target using this! It is one of my absolute favorites!
– Tom the Tow Truck (Mini Mango) – $2.99 – No Ratings
You can target a lot of grammar and language goals with this. Go exploring and complete fun little mini tasks as you cruise around town.
– Far West Train (Comolomola) – Free – 4.3/5 Stars, 509 Ratings
Similar to the Pirate app mentioned above, but I feel like this one is more basic and repetitive. I’ve used this more with my special needs students and they loved it!
– Ocean (MarcoPolo) – Free – 4.6/5 Stars, 146 Ratings
Great for grammar and vocabulary. Go exploring under the sea, talk about all the ocean-themed vocabulary, complete little mini tasks, and build you own submarine!
– Arctic (MarcoPolo) – Free – 4.5/5 Stars, 53 Ratings
Explore the arctic tundra, interact with the different animals, talk about winter vocabulary, complete mini tasks and work in tons of functional goals as your student plays.
- I love all of these “exploration” apps! You can target so many language concepts and carryover within them. Tons of opportunities for vocabulary, grammar, articulation, etc.
Want to learn how to show your iPad screen during a Zoom teletherapy session? Click this link for a video tutorial!
What are your favorite apps? There are so many out there, but most have little-no ratings or very poor ratings. I love hearing from other SLPs who actually use the apps regularly 🙂
