Top 10 Apps for Speech and Fine Motor Development

Guest blogger and Speech-Language Pathologist, Mailin Justiniano, shared with us the top 10 apps for speech and fine motor development... 

I’m sure we all know what an iPad is,if you don't, I highly recommend getting one. This amazing tool has attracted people as young as babies, up to my grandfather’s age! I recently showed my grandfather the Galaga game and he was thoroughly entertained for quite some time. If you simply show this simple device to a child, you can see their eyes light up with wonder.

It all started when the iPad was given to me as a graduation gift a few years ago, and it has been such a wonderful resource since! Over the last few years, I have downloaded and trialed several apps. I’d like to share with you my top 10 favorite apps for development!




 



1.       Peekaboo Barn for $1.99 It all starts with Animal Sounds! This app is wonderful because it allows you to work on animal sounds in a very fun way! This app is great for visual stimulation and has an auditory presentation prior to demonstrating the picture/label for the animal. 

 

  

2.       iMommy App Lite version (free) iMommy $1.99 I LOVE this app! This app is great for eye hand coordination, naming objects and increasing understanding actions! I like to use this app while I use simple language models, such as “the baby is laughing”, “let’s wash the baby” and to follow directions such as “turn off the water.” 

3.       First Words Deluxe $4.99 This app is wonderful as it contains vocabulary from a variety of categories. You can choose animals, things in the home, colors,shapes or other categories. This also helps children develop phonemic awareness.

 

4.       Actions Flashcards Kindergarten.com app $1.99 This app is an excellent tool to help children improve comprehension/understanding by learning actions. To make this app even more interactive, you can have the child push an action and then proceed to act it out. This would make for a fun activity taking a
whole body experience approach to keep your child interested and involved.

 

5.       Caillou’s World $2.99  Caillou’s world is a great app to assist in Identifying letters. It also assists with visual discrimination as the child needs to search for the item that is flashing in color with a black and white background. Once the child clicks on the picture, he/she is able to view the spelled word and must find the first sound of the word. For example, “Sunflower. Sunflower starts with the letters S.” The child must then match the correct letter with the first sound in the word. Kids really enjoy this app!

 

6.       Articulation Station $2.99/3.99 or 5.99 per letter sound. This app is particularly helpful if your child is having a difficult time with a specific speech sound. I truly believe in this app. I helped a child who was unable to say his k’s and g’s by using this app. The greatest feature is that you are able to record and play back a child’s production of the word and they are able to hear themselves.  This auditory feedback is a wonderful feature that allows children to compare the way the word should sound (model on the app) versus the way they might be pronouncing it. 

 

7. Barbie I can Be FREE. This app can be used to teach children how to sequence steps. Most of the time, I use this app as a reward since it seems to be a favorite amongst the girls. Implement this as a reward for completing an educational program or homework. They can choose to either make a pizza, bake a cupcake or be a Veterinarian. It also helps with developing eye-hand coordination. The best part is it’s free!

 

8.       Little Writer FREE This app is fantastic for teaching fine motor skills. Children must follow the line to create a letter. The graphics are colorful and neat!  This will help with eye hand coordination, and overall fine motor skills.

9.       Laugh & Learn. Where’s puppy’s nose? For baby By Fisherprice, FREE. This app is geared towards the little ones starting to learn body parts. I think it’s great because of how interactive it is and how the animals are very animated. It’s a simple concept, to help kids learn parts of the body. I like this one. It's a must have!

 

10.   Fitquest Lite- FREE Get your kids moving and grooving! I recommend having a safe case for your iPad should you choose to use this game. This game allows your child to get active, and works on gross motorskills such as walking, hopping and ducking. The music is cute and one of the games requires the child to jump over a snake. This is great exercise for your kids instead of having them sit down while using the iPad.

I hope you find this list useful! Please share your ideas, comments or suggestions below. We would love to hear from you!

Mailin Justiniano, M.S.,CCC-SLP
Hanen Certified Speech-Language Pathologist.
 
Mailin is a Speech-Language Pathologist who has come to embrace the technology side of treatment! She loves finding new apps to assist children in reaching their maximum potential in therapy. She is Hanen-certified and enjoys working with kids. She has experience with a variety of diagnoses and disorders such as Cri Du Chat, Autism, language delay, Selective Mutism, Auditory Processing, Down's Syndrome, Articulation, Fluency and many more.  Her favorite part of being a speech therapist is being able to "play with a purpose" and educate parents.