In a world dominated by child directed everything, what’s an adult based SLP to do?! Well read on. Because while there are definitely fewer options, many are amazing!
This semester, due to a number of reasons, I’ve been forced into planning activities for pretty much all of my clients on my own. For a first externship, this was is kind of intimidating at first! But because of that, I feel as though I’ve developed a fairly good idea of how to plan, what to plan, and what support to give!
Okay, so now onto what you came here to read. Below are the apps I use all the time with my adult clients:
1) Language TherAppy by Tactus Therapy: $59.99
While at first glance it seems like this app has quite a hefty price tag, when you consider that it is four apps in one is it actually quite the bargain. Also, I use this app ALL THE TIME. Each of the apps you can see above flow seamlessly together. When a client is too high level for one, they can move directly into another. I’ve had many clients get frustrated easily within the therapy setting, and this app has been a lifesaver for them! One of my clients this semester calls this app her “game” and the rest of my therapy activities her “work”. So cool!
2) Category TherAppy by Tactus Therapy: $14.99
Another AMAZING app by Tactus Therapy. Seriously go check out their apps! I have so many on my wishlist still. This one obviously targets categories. Again, seamless between difficulty levels and whether or not you are finding, classifying excluding, or adding to to a category.
3) Describe It! by Pocket SLP: $9.99
I feel like I’m always talking about this app when I talk about my most used apps! I do it for a reason. This app is reasonably priced and so versatile. Great for kids and adults. Think Catch Phrase with pictures. You can also take away a timer in “Study” mode, which is wonderful for those adults with slower processing.
4) Conversation TherAppy by Tactus Therapy: $24.99
Thoughts I was done talking about Tactus Therapy? Nope… sorry! This is another wonderful app from them. Each picture has 10 related prompts. Great for problem solving, evaluating, inferences, prediction and seriously so so so much more! The whole app uses real pictures and nothing ‘baby like’ at all.
5) iMimic: FREE
Anybody else play around with a game like this when they were younger? Mega flashbacks for me here, but it’s such a good memory and attention app. AND it’s free… so no reason not to give it a try!
6) Spaced Retrieval TherAppy by Tactus Therapy: $3.99
Hopefully by now you’ve heard about the wonders of Spaced Retrieval for improving memory! Well this app makes spaced retreival easy by allowing you to set questions, each with individuals timers that pop up even over other apps. I like to set the question(s) at the beginning of the session and just let it run while we do other apps/activities. It starts by popping up ALL THE TIME but then pops up less often. It’s definitely worth the $3.99 because it does all of the remembering and timing work for you!
7) Dysphagia2Go by Smarty Ears: $39.99
This app seems super innovative to me for some reason… I love it! Overall, it takes you through the entire dysphagia exam process. Starting with a chart review and everything! Then after easily entering the information required on each page, it writes a report for you. Yes, you read that right! It WRITES THE REPORT for you. I love it for 2 reasons: 1) It’s a big time saver, and 2) It makes sure I don’t forget to check anything on my dysphagia exams!
8) Dysphagia by Northern Speech Services: $9.99
So I got this app a while ago and used it mostly for studying purposes. It allows you to view a normal swallow, and several different disordered swallows. Now that I’m in my externship, I’ve actually used it for several clients to show them exactly what is happening during their swallow, explain the anatomy, and then convince them why their compensatory strategies are so important! This worked extremely well with one very smart, but stubborn client I had.
9) Doodle Find: FREE
I should begin this review but saying that I’m weird and actually like to play this game all of the time. Then one day I realized how good this app could be for memory and attention. So I brought it in and my clients LOVED IT. I had them play it every 10 minutes or so as a “break” during our sessions. I kept track of their score each time and encouraged them to try and beat it. I’ve never seem them focus so hard for so long! Each game is timed at 1 minute and 30 seconds, which honestly goes really fast for some of my slower processors, but I think if you purchase the app you can just play without a timer. If I have a client who needs it in the future, I’ll definitely be purchasing!
10) iName It by Smarty Ears: $14.99
Last but definitely not least is iName It from Smarty Ears. Another one of my all time favorite app makers! This app is super cool for adults because it uses such real looking pictures. If you couldn’t tell from the name of the app, it’s used for naming items within their natural contexts. If you look at the pictures above, you can see that I clicked on the microwave. If your client needs additional prompts, it will provide 5 ones of various support levels!
Carissa from Home Sweet Speech Room loves Bitsboard, ABA Flash Cards for Emotions, and Touch and Learn Emotions. I can’t attest to any of them because I haven’t used them yet, but they look like good ideas! And they are all FREE!
What adult apps do you use? I’d love to hear!
Thanks for this list! It is so difficult to find good reviews on adult therapy apps and this one is great!
I use the CASE app for my dysphagia and home care language evaluations too!
I love these speech therapy apps for adults! They’re so helpful and make learning new speech sounds so much easier.