7 of the Best Apps for Children with Autism | Autism Awareness Month 2020

April is Autism Awareness Month!

National Autism Awareness Month represents an excellent opportunity to promote autism awareness, autism acceptance and to draw attention to the tens of thousands facing an autism diagnosis each year.

In recent years, there have been more and more apps targeted at specific diagnoses. During our app trials and reviews we have found that many of these apps are, in fact, wonderful resources for people with specific disabilities. However, we have also found that when choosing apps for individuals with diagnoses like autism spectrum disorder it is essential to focus on skills—rather than age, diagnosis or developmental level.

Below we have listed 7 of our favorite apps for autism spectrum disorder. And, be sure to check out our newly updated full list of Apps for Autism.

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1. Proloquo2Go – Symbol-based AAC
Proloquo2Go is a full featured augmentative communication application (AAC) that offers picture only, picture and text, and keyboard options for message formulation. The voices available are a more natural sounding male, female adult or child. The keyboard and picture/text grids can be used for novel sentence building. The images on the buttons are SymbolStix, although the user is able to use real pictures and some pictures are a more life-like cartoon drawing.

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2. Find My Family, Friends & iPhone – Life360 Locator
Great for children and teens with autism, Family Locator by Life360 is an intuitive tracker app to keep family, friends and caregivers connected. Life360 runs on your mobile device and allows you to view your family members on a map, communicate with them, and receive alerts when your loved ones leave and arrive at home, school or work.

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[row_column]3. Children with Autism: A visual schedule
Children with Autism: A visual schedule is a wearable picture-based scheduler designed with children and adults with autism in mind. Using the iPad or iPhone app, a caregiver can make a visual schedule for the the wearer. There are included icons or icons/photos can be uploaded to the app to make custom icons. The schedule can then be sent to the wearer’s Apple Watch and will alert them when he/she needs to change tasks or start a new task.[/row_column]
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[row_column]4. Birdhouse for Autism
Birdhouse for Autism is an excellent app that offers caregivers the ability to track behaviors, health and daily living tasks of children diagnosed with ASD. Parents raising children with ASD designed this easy to use web and iPhone/Android application. As data is entered, it becomes easy for the caregiver to isolate and compare as well as find patterns of behaviors. Identification of patterns then assists the caregivers to determine what is working in the child’s daily schedule as well as what needs to be changed.[/row_column]
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[row_column]5. Choiceworks
Choiceworks is an app for helping children complete daily routines and tasks, understanding and controlling feelings and to improve their patience. Caregivers, teachers, and therapists use this app with students diagnosed with autism (verbal and nonverbal), ADD, and other learning disabilities to keep them on task and motivated. The Choiceworks app is high quality, user friendly and students trialed enjoyed using it.[/row_column]
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[row_column]6. Avaz AAC
Avaz AAC is an augmentative and alternative communication app that empowers children and adults having speech-related disabilities with a voice of their own. A fully-featured speech app that also includes a training module for new AAC users and caregivers. With this version of Avaz AAC, you can try the app for 14 days with access to pictures and voices before deciding to purchase it. After that, you can choose to subscribe to a monthly, annual or lifetime plan – whichever suits your pocket the best 🙂

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[row_column]7. DayCape – Daily visual planning
DayCape is an app that allows therapists, teachers, parents, and even the child themselves to set up visual schedules. Benefiting grades pre-k through 5th, this app is an excellent way to help children with a variety of disabilities to manage their day. The app allows a user to set up activities for for the child using pre-set pictures, or by uploading personalized images. Once the activities are set up, notifications show up on the child’s device to remind them of the activities they have been assigned.[/row_column]
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Updated April 15, 2020

36 thoughts on “7 of the Best Apps for Children with Autism | Autism Awareness Month 2020

  1. Hi,

    Reccomendations number 6: I Can Have Conversations with You, is no longer available on App Store. I am looking to model/ teach my son the elements to conversation exchange. Do you know of another app?

    Thanks!

    1. Hello Chris, Thank you for letting us know I Can Have Conversations With You is no longer available on the App Store. It was such a great app. Often apps are removed from the app store when they are updating to a newer version. I really hope this is the case. In the meantime, a similar app is Functional Conversation. Here is the link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/functional-conversation/id553904064?ls=1&mt=8NULL. Let me know if you have any other questions.

  2. Hi Chris,
    Can you please let me know the apps for Android system for developing Functional Skills for my Autistic kid who is 6 years and is non-verbal. He has a lot of stimming including hand and voice stimming.
    All the apps shown are for iPad and I don\’t use Apple.
    Would really appreciate your help and support.
    Best regards
    Rajib

    1. Hi Karen, One of our favorite organization apps for teens is Wunderlist: To-Do List & Tasks. With its sleek, hip interface, Wunderlist is popular among teens and college students. Wunderlist is the perfect app for users with ADHD, learning disabilities, dementia or anyone who wants to stay organized and get more done. Here is a link to our review of the app: https://search.bridgingapps.org/apps/8834f05e-3166-4225-3a8c-d70dadc000c6. Let us know if you have any other questions.

    1. Hi Jenny! Proloquotogo is a one time fee. Life360 has an excellent free version and an upgraded version with a monthly subscription. Visual schedule is a one time fee. Birdhouse for Autism is a one time fee. Choiceworks is a one time fee. Daycape is free to download with the option to upgrade to a paid version.

  3. Hello I am looking for two apps one that can help my 13 year old with spelling and reading also an app for social skills for teens with Autism

    1. Hi Liliana,

      \”ColorsKit\” is all about caring for and sharing with the people who matter to you and your family the most. Our app is a comprehensive and personalised learning tool with a growing library of assessment and teaching content spread over multiple curricula and skill sets. You can download our apps from Apple and Google Play stores.

      Play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ripl.colorskitforeveryone&hl=en_IN
      Apple store: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/colorskit-for-everyone-autism/id1460245428

  4. I am 22 and diagnosed with ASD I have a hard time expressing myself and when I get too overwhelmed it’s hard to communicate at all verbally. Will any of these apps help me in those situations. To express that I am to scared to go, or that I am having sensory overloads for example…

  5. Hi. Could you reccommend and app (in french or spanish preferrably, otherwise english is ok) to help a 18 month toddler with with speech learning? My 18-month baby-boy does not speak yet. We are unnable to get his attention with books or physical flashcards. We are waiting for him to start being treated by a specialist (we are particularly concerned by him having Autism or ADD/ADHD). He is exposed to 3 languages in a structured approach oneperson-only (French one parent, Spanish the other parent, English at day-care). We have read that even with this 3-language situation he should be able to speak a few words by now
    thanks

    1. Hi Robert, Thank you for contacting BridgingApps. A few of the english communication apps for toddlers that we recommend include Tom Taps Speaks and Avaz. Since you are looking for a multilingual aac app, we highly recommend you checking out Proloquo2Go. It is available in English, Dutch, French and Spanish. Here is the link to our review of the app: https://search.bridgingapps.org/apps/9ff86705-1dc1-d927-51c4-1128f43d2769 Let us know if we can help assist you in any other way.

  6. I have a grandson that is 8 years old. He has been diagnosed with autism. He is functional and is intelligent, but is having a very hard time concentrating and controlling emotions in school. He wants to be on an I- pad constantly and when he is, he tunes out completely. Is there a program that will keep him interested and help him communicate with others as well as help him control his emotions?
    Dennis

    1. Hi Dennis, Thank you for reaching out. There are many communication only apps that may help your grandson. Here is a link to a list of some of our favorites: https://search.bridgingapps.org/lists/28a0e322-05f8-4823-b9a9-332447642d2b Proloquo2Go is excellent, but it is a bit pricey. Avaz is another great AAC app that you can trial for free to see how it works. Here\’s the link: https://search.bridgingapps.org/apps/7e0ad487-535e-7e8c-f786-4824f8efa1ea Let me know if you have any other questions.

  7. My son has recently been diagnosed with Autism. He really struggles with the daily routine of getting out of bed for breakfast etc and at the end of the day he needs reminding to get changed out of uniform, have tea, any homework, get a shower and come of screens. He likes his D\’s and phone. Any suitable app for a 13 he old

    1. Hi Alex, Thank you for reaching out to us. A couple app suggestions that may help your son with daily routine are Picture Scheduler https://search.bridgingapps.org/apps/701a2a74-3dca-9ca1-1883-04d4ba3a3a8d and Todo Visual Schedule https://search.bridgingapps.org/apps/ad3066f6-8d7f-4a87-be28-7dcd698c4987. The BridgingApps database of apps is also a great resource for finding specific apps. Here\’s the link: https://search.bridgingapps.org/dashboard Type a keyword into the search bar and you will easily be able to find specific apps. Let us know if you have any other questions.

  8. Hi, I would love an app that could connect to a watch that does several things. 1.) vibrates when he is off task, 2.) provides a daily schedule that I can control from my phone, 3.) provides a timer when he needs a break. Does anyone know of this kind of technology? I need it for my 13 year old son.

    1. Hi Tabatha, We are not yet aware of an app that vibrates when the user is off task. However, Todo Visual Schedule is compatible with the Apple Watch and allows the parent or caregiver to create a schedule. Here\’s the link: https://search.bridgingapps.org/apps/ad3066f6-8d7f-4a87-be28-7dcd698c4987 Another app that might be helpful is Be Focused. Here\’s the link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/be-focused-focus-timer/id973130201 I hope that helps. Let us know if you have any other questions.

  9. Trying to find an app which I can try to use to easily allow all of the various therapist and service providers to see and enter their latest notes and continually remain on the same page with one another.

    1. Hi Anthony, Thank you for contacting BridgingApps. A few suggestions apps that may work for your team are Trello or GoalBook. Be sure to read the privacy policy carefully to be sure they are HIPPA compliant. Also MeMinder, by Createability is a relatively new platform with a lot of benefits where multiple people can enter and view information. Let us know if you have any other questions.

  10. My child is currently 6. He truly battles with the day by day schedule of getting up for breakfast and so on and toward the day\’s end, he needs helping to get changed out to remember uniform, have tea, any schoolwork, get a shower and fall off screens. He enjoys his daddy\’s and telephone.

  11. Hi. I am currently working with 3 nonverbal children who I would like to introduce a communication app for . Would you reccomend let\’s talk or proloq2go?
    Thank you

  12. Here\’s a great and free sight word web app you can use on a computer, ipad, or phone.
    There\’s an AI component that tracks and re-serves words. Very easy and quick daily trainer. I programmed this app for my son with autism, it\’s free for anyone to use anytime.

  13. I am a parent and I run a home school for learners on the autism spectrum, however, due to the current situation like many institutions of learning around the world are shut due to COVID 19. I am looking for ways learning for our autistic learners can still go on, in the safety of their homes. Please can you help me set up an online classroom by pointing me to e-learning resources and Apps that will support my learners and their families during these trying times?

    1. Hi Ruth, Thank you for contacting BridgingApps regarding setting up an online classroom for learners on the autism spectrum. I am responding to your question via email.

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