As a parent, you want to help your child practice at home but focus isn’t always great with offline activities so you want to turn to the best speech therapy apps for kids.
Finding the best ones is very difficult considering the vast amount of options. Here is both a checklist on how to select the right one and which categories of speech therapy apps exist to help you navigate and find what is best for your family.
We tried to include paid and free speech therapy apps, a variety of speech therapy apps for diffrent categories of speech impediments, on iPhone, Android and iPad as well as speech therapy apps for toddlers, preschoolers and teenagers.
How to choose the best speech therapy app for your kid?
You should always consult with your speech and language therapist to understand what is their therapeutic approach to addressing your child’s speech impediment. The therapy approach will dictate which are the best speech therapy apps for your kid.
The best speech therapy apps will:
- mimic in-clinic techniques
- good quality and content
- be easy to use for families and children
No point wasting time on speech therapy apps for kids that are not aligned with what research recommends for your child’s specific therapeutic approach.
Using the right tools is important to not waste time, money and effort.
Which are the speech therapy apps should I choose ?
Here is a shortlist of all the categories of speech therapy apps available, how to think about each category and a curated list by category:
Speech Therapy Apps: Articulation Therapy
Articulation therapy is often used for children who have trouble saying specific sounds or words correctly. For example, a child might say “wabbit” instead of “rabbit.” or they might have a lisp. In articulation therapy, a speech therapist works with the person to practice making specific sounds and combining them into words. The goal is to make their speech easier to understand.
The best speech therapy apps for kids that mimic clinic-based articulation therapy should include :
- Ability to select specific sounds for practice and the sound position in a word
- Age-appropriate visual aids on how to position tongue or animations on how to form sounds
- Ability to progress difficulty from syllables to simple words and then sentences
- Record of repetitions and progress tracker
- If available, the ability to get feedback from the app on a successful articulation
Articulation therapy tends to be very repetitive and boring for children. Articulation apps with interactive games, videos, or reward systems often can keep children engaged and motivated.
Here is a list of 8 best speech articulation apps.
Children with articulation issues might need either articulation therapy but may alternatively need phonological process contrastive therapy. A parent would not be able to tell which is most appropriate. It is important that a qualified profesionnal make a recommendation on the type of therapy that will best treat the underlying speech disorder.
Speech Therapy Apps: Contrastive Therapy
Phonological contrastive therapy is often used for children who have trouble understanding the rules of how sounds work in words.
For example, a child might say “bat” instead of “pat,” because they don’t yet understand the difference between the “b” and “p” sounds. Phonological therapy focuses on teaching children to recognize and produce different sound patterns to improve their speech clarity.
Therapists begin by identifying the specific sound patterns the child struggles with, such as mixing up sounds or leaving out parts of words. They might focus on minimal pairs, which are pairs of words that only differ by one sound (like “pat” and “bat”). The child practices listening to and saying these words to understand how changing a sound can change the meaning of a word. This helps them become more aware of sound differences in speech.
The best speech therapy apps for kids that mimic clinic-based phonological contrastive therapy should include :
- Ability to select sound patterns or minimal pairs for practice
- Age-appropriate visual aids that show how changing a sound alters a word’s meaning
- Structured progression from easier to more difficult sound contrasts
- Interactive exercises that focus on listening, sorting, and producing minimal pairs
- A system to track progress and provide feedback on correct sound production
We are working on a list of the best speech therapy apps with minimal pair and should publish this list soon.
Speech Therapy Apps: Phonological Awareness Apps
Phonological awareness therapy helps children who struggle with recognizing and manipulating the sounds in words, which is crucial for learning to read and spell.
In daily life, parents might notice their child struggling with tasks like rhyming simple words or identifying the first sound in a word, making preschool reading and spelling particularly difficult.
Phonological awareness therapy focuses on improving these abilities to lay a strong foundation for reading development.
The best speech therapy apps for kids that mimic clinic-based phonological awareness therapy should include several important features:
- Activities that focus on different tasks, like rhyming, syllable counting, and sound blending
- Visual aids and sounds to help children connect the letters they see with the sounds they hear
- Games and exercises that encourage children to play with sounds and syllables in words
- Interactive, step-by-step exercises that increase in difficulty, from basic sound identification to blending and segmenting sounds in words
We are working on a list of the best speech therapy apps for phonological awareness therapy and should publish this list soon.
Speech Therapy Apps: Language Development
Language development therapy helps children who have trouble understanding or using language properly.
This can include difficulty with vocabulary, forming sentences, or understanding grammar rules. For example, a child might struggle to form complete sentences or use the correct words in conversation. Language development therapy focuses on improving these skills to help children communicate better.
The goal of language development therapy is to make it easier for the child to express themselves and understand what others are saying.
The best speech therapy apps for kids that mimic clinic-based language development therapy should include :
- Ability to focus on different areas of language, such as vocabulary, sentence building, or grammar
- Visual aids like pictures and videos to help explain words or sentence structures
- Interactive exercises that encourage the child to listen, speak, and answer questions
- Gradual progression from simple words and phrases to more complex sentences
- A progress tracker that shows improvement in understanding and using language
Here is a list of 11 great language development apps.
Speech Therapy Apps: Social Skills Development
Social skills development therapy helps children who struggle with understanding and using social behaviors.
These skills are important for making friends, communicating with others, and knowing how to act in different situations. For example, a child might have trouble taking turns in conversations, understanding body language, or handling emotions during social interactions. Social skills therapy focuses on teaching appropriate behaviors and responses in social settings.
The best speech therapy apps for kids that mimic clinic-based social skills therapy should include several important features:
- Scenarios or role-playing exercises that focus on different social situations
- Visual cues and examples of facial expressions or body language to help children recognize emotions
- Practice activities that teach turn-taking, sharing, and appropriate conversation skills
- Interactive exercises that involve problem-solving in social contexts, like resolving conflicts or understanding others’ feelings
Here is a list of 5 great social skills apps.
