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Top 10 Apps for Your Child with ASD

Happy Thursday, Cayer Crew!

With all this COVID craziness, so many things have moved online, but health waits for no one! When it comes to caring for our kids, we simply cannot press pause and stop even if the world does. It’s always good to have some help and resources to use from home – that’s why we’re bringing you the top 10 FREE apps for kids with ASD!

 

1. Autism Therapy with MITA

 

 MITA (Mental Image Therapy for Autism) uses puzzles to improve childhood development, attention, language, and visual skills. The design of the app is simple, but games and puzzles make it interesting and engaging for your kiddo! 

 

2. Sesame Street and Autism

 

This app is perfect for preschool age kiddos. “Sesame Street and Autism” hosts games, puzzles, storybooks, and more! It features the most popular Sesame Street characters, including Julia, a little girl diagnosed with ASD! This helpful app also offers great resources for parents and families, like how-tos and useful tips to engage with your kiddo.

 

 

3. Sensory Baby Toddler Learning

 

This sweet and simple app is great for kids both on the spectrum and off. Children can pick from several fun background colors, effects, and different fish! They can control where the fish swim, and create fun effects like bubbles with their fingers! 

 

4. Autism Read & Write

 

Reading and writing is something children with ASD often struggle with. This Android app is designed for school-age kids, and parents can customize the difficulty level to fit their child’s unique needs! 

5. ABC Kids – Tracing & Phonics

 

 

 

This game is perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarten age kids of all abilities! It features many games and activities to help kids learn to recognize letter shapes and associate them with sounds. Perfect for the kiddo who’s just learning to read! 

 

6. LetMeTalk

 

 

 

This communication app is perfect for kids or adults who are nonverbal or struggle with communication. The database holds thousands of pictures that can be used to communicate with, and users can even upload their own pictures or add family members’ names. Even better – it does not require internet connection or data, so it can be used anywhere, anytime! 

 

7. Kinder Tangram: Build a House

 

 

 

Tangrams have been a valuable teaching tool in classrooms for decades. This app brings that same idea to your phone! Kids can create fun builds while learning about shapes and colors. This app can also help build valuable skills like spatial awareness, geometry, and critical thinking! 

 

8. Birdhouse – for Autism

 

 

This app has received great reviews from Parents.com, Huffington Post, and Autism Speaks, among others! It is a journal-type database where you can share unlimited notes with doctors, aides, therapists, etc. Parents can even set a schedule for their child with reminders throughout the day! 

 

9. Endless Reader

 

 

This app helps kids identify “sight words” that are useful for daily life! The app uses fun, cartoon monsters and animations to keep kids engaged. It also features fun sounds and vibrations to keep it interesting! 

 

10. Starfall ABCs

 

The last app on our list is Starfall ABC’s. This is another great tool for helping kids learn the alphabet, letters, and sounds. Similar to Endless Reader, it uses fun colors and sounds to keep kids engaged! 

 

These apps are great online tools to help keep your kids engaged, while keeping them inside and far away from harmful germs! We cannot stress enough how important it is to keep an eye on your kids when they’re using the internet – no matter how old they are! Clickbait, spam, and nasty ads can easily find their way to your phone when you’re not looking. We hope this has been a useful resource to you and your family. Stay safe and healthy, Cayer Families

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How We Help: Navigating Children Who Are Non-Verbal

Diagnosis autism! The diagnosis itself is is certainly a sliding scale. Your child may face varying challenges and varying degrees of those challenges depending where they land on the spectrum. We understand the difficulty of wrapping your head around the shock, especially when it pertains to someone you love! Coupled with acceptance of the diagnosis is an added layer …children who are non-verbal.

Merriam-Webster defines non-verbal behavior as communication “involving minimal use of spoken language”. One common misconception about non-verbal communication is that the person is deaf. A majority of children with autism can understand those who are verbally communicating with them, but have difficulty mirroring what they think and feel in a spoken way. There is no clear-cut formula to “cure” non-verbal tendencies, but that is where we come in. We offer a list of techniques and strategies to help teachers and parents communicate with their non-verbal kiddos in a way they understand and can mirror the communication.

Cayer Behavioral Group offers the following resources to teachers and parents who love and educate those who are non-verbal.

  • Tools to learn: Sign Language. Sign Language is a wonderful way for kids who are non-verbal to communicate their wants and needs. We provide parents and teachers with resources to learn the basics of sign-language so they and the students can communicate.

  • Tools to teach: Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. AAC devices include flashcards, tablets, or computers to convey thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Pictures, interactive games, and voice help children with autism overcome barriers. These devices can rapidly increase the child’s brain stimulation by using pictures, interactive games and voice to make communication easier and fun for everyone involved! Cayer Behavioral Group assists teachers with the use of these devices and how to implement them into the child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP).

  • Tools to implement: The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). PECS gives children who are non-verbal the opportunity to communicate using a series of pictures. Children, adolescents and adults using PECS are taught to approach another person and give them a picture of a desired item in exchange for that item. This way, the “speaker” appropriately and effectively initiates communication.

  • Apps: There are many apps available to parents and educators. The primary objective across these tools is to increase reciprocal communication between kids living with autism and those who aren’t. A few apps available to children with autism are:

  1. Bag Game: This game is a spin-off of 20 questions, but with pictures instead! It is perfect for social skills and playing with peers because each individual playing chooses  their own level of difficulty. Verbal description, auditory memory, and question-asking are a few of the many skills that this app can help improve.
  2. Learn with Rufus: This app uses a child-friendly character to teach emotion words, facial expressions associated with emotions! Using this app can help someone who communicates non-verbally to appropriately convey their emotions through expressions and understand others’ non-verbal communication.
  3. Articulation Station: Just as it’s titled, this app assists with articulation. Images are used to represent target words. Kids can practice words, phrases, sentences, and stories all in one place!
  4. Grid Player: This app allows users to create sentences and hear them spoken. Each “grid” contains a sentence starter (adjective, noun, verb, etc).  “Grids” are also animated with pictures. The animation paired with the written word allows the child or adult using the app to recognize the action or item they want to communicate, place them in contextual order, and hear it played out loud!
  5. Baby Sign and Learn: Please don’t be fooled by “baby” in the title of this app. It is fun for all ages! The app provides images that correlate with Sign Language. Then, a character in the game demonstrates the sign for that particular image. It provides a fun and easy way to learn with your non-verbal loved ones!

Verbal communication is always the primary goal as it is and will be the most preferred method of communication worldwide. However, all is definitely not lost if your little one with autism best communicates through sign, an augmentative communication device or PECS. Hang in there parents! Dreaming new dreams and finding your new normal is often an uphill battle but keep in mind: “normal” is nothing but a dryer setting. You got this! #autismawarenesseveryday

 

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