Adorable! Allows you to use 3 of the characters as much as you want, NO ADS! (Thank you!!) You can unlock the rest with a small in-app purchase. (There is also a parental gate to prevent accidental purchase of the full version. I will definitely recommend this to others- the characters are brightly colored, engaging and appear developmentally appropriate. I like how you can change the settings to toggle between either tapping or dragging to build the pieces of each animal puzzle- not only is the “tap” option good for little ones, it is also good for children with differing abilities. Love it!

A fun learning activity for kids learning how to use picture icons to combine agent plus action phrases “zebra jumps” “lion eats” etc. Select an animal character (the agent) and an action (verb), then press the play button to see your choices be acted out. I only wish you could choose a boy, girl, man, or woman as the character doing the action, to make it a little more relatable- since the zoo animals are not high frequency vocabulary words. I only wish when the animals drink from the water bowl that it would not disappear into thin air- instead an empty water bowl should be shown. But it’s free, and helpful for students to see how choosing different word combinations = different outcomes. Having the different animals “dance” (and each character has their own unique dance) is good clean (and educational) fun!

Use your device’s camera to take pictures in a kaleidoscope format, save them to your photo roll. Simple, beautiful and fun results from every day objects in your environment.

In FRENCH.

NOT in English 😭

This so makes me want to learn French.

It looks like it would be appropriate for upper elementary and above. There are no ads or external links. There is an informational page to further learning about the history behind the story.

THE illustrations are so captivating and beautiful. There are interactive elements to the story too. I tried to follow the storyline and see the changes of the seasons but I REALLY want to understand the story, and the history behind it. It looks like it is describing the history and culture of a group of people indigenous to parts of Canada.

This is in DUTCH language - NO ENGLISH translation!

I wish there were an English translation for the instructions so English speakers could better use it too, BUT it can be used to introduce the different environmental sounds that exist, which are divided into categories: things in the home, transportation, wild animals, farm animals and musical instruments - These sounds are universal, so could be helpful to use with anyone working on identifying them. There are several activities for each group of environmental sounds - listen to the sounds, listen to the sounds and find the matching picture, or listen to the sounds and find the match to make a pair in a memory game. There is a tiny, unobtrusive ad bar at the bottom of the screen- you can use guided access to block any unwanted clicks out of the app.

THIS IS NOT IN ENGLISH!! However, you can turn down the volume and use the no-words story option, to have your student practice telling his/her own story about the scenes! (Or of course you can tap the words button and use it practice your French ;) )

This is NOT IN ENGLISH...but it does not need to be- just click on the fish with the math operation you want to practice. - tap on the answer, and if it is correct you will be awarded a green shell, if not, it will be red. It is a simple, drill-style math app and I have included it because it is FREE- but ad-based. (There is a tiny unobtrusive ad bar at the bottom of the screen- you can use guided access to draw around it so there are no unexpected clicks outside of the app.

This is NOT IN ENGLISH! But I promise it does not need to be. Simply tap the square tiles to move them into the correct order, until the pieces match each sample picture shown. There are 3 different difficulty levels. This is ad-based-there is a small , unobtrusive ad at the bottom of the screen- you can use guided access to avoid unexpected clicks out of the app.

This is not in English, but very easy to figure out how to use! Lay out the colored blocks according to the numbers given, in the order and color that the numbers indicate. You can tap the “?” symbol if you are unsure how to do it, and the app will demonstrate for you! It is a fun visual-spatial and counting activity. There is a very small and unobtrusive ad bar at the bottom of the app, as an FYI- you can use guided access to cover it up so there won’t be unwanted clicks outside of the app.

Based on monkey characters Tee and Mo. Simple activities a young child (PreK/ Kinder or so) can play by himself or while taking turns with a friend- build a sandwich, paint a house, go “fishing” for flowers, and more. Each activity has both written and verbal instructions for non-readers. These all involve working on simple motor skills too.

This is one of our favorite AAC apps that we have had for quite a while, and it is quite amazing for someone really motivated by certain characters, or who is motivated by seeing themselves- add a photo of your choice and the app will turn it into a talking personal avatar, complete with ability to show emotion- you can switch back and forth between talking neutrally, with sadness, anger, or happiness- by tapping on a icon showing that feeling! For example, a user can demand pizza by selecting the picture icons to say “I want pizza” angrily, by pressing the ‘angry’ icon before playing a message, or a user can politely say “I want pizza“ with a smile... this helps with understanding subtle changes in our face when we express different emotions, and gives the user more control over conveying their emotions too. There is also a companion app called InnerVoice Sender, which lets you send messages from your device, to the user running InnerVoice, to help prompt from afar verbally.

I don’t have really young ones of my own myself right now, but if I did I would consider something like this - I would prefer a one time- purchase though, but there are only monthly or yearly subscription options. If that doesn’t deter you, you can test out a lot of the fun interactive activities even without signing up for a free trial to see if using this more long term would be worth it. The app is child- friendly, no ads or anything like that (Thank you!!). You can explore early counting, try out simple puzzles and color matching activities, play games such as “find the difference” and more. The narrator uses fun rhymes to engage listeners, and there are interactive elements on each page-where the characters will make a fun noise or do something when you tap on them , to help keep the attention of young learners, too.

Free book for younger learners, with a clear and engaging story line, voiceover (three voices to choose from), and visually appealing illustrations about a robot who needs its “heart drive” (ha ha cute pun) to see life in a more meaningful way.

This is FREE for educators, so a great resource to keep up on all the current books students might be reading. It has A LOT of books. Some of the books have "Read to Me" features, but many are print only- something to keep in mind if you want narrated stories.

This used to be a free app, with free content. Wonderful content. Access to that content has recently been removed for past users downloading this app on to a new iPad. The "restore" feature only restores past subscriptions, not past purchases from before the subscription model was in place. Why are past users who have been with the app since its beginning, not given a "restore" option for the app they once freely had? If there were a one-time fee to actually purchase this app, I could continue recommending it to others, because the content is valuable. However at this time a $14.99 a month fee is cost prohibitive for many, and many school districts prohibit apps with subscription models entirely. Imagine paying for a year of content at $14.99 a month, only to be unable to continue doing so. You then have nothing to show for it.

This is a very simple to use, and easily programmable PECS-style communication system. Would love to see a one-time purchase option instead of a monthly or yearly subscription model only.

Well done, lots of great features packed into an obviously well-polished app, but would love a one-time purchase option added! Yearly subscriptions add up fast and I personally don’t find most monthly or year subscription models to be worth it, with other lifetime purchase options out there...

Looks great, but no lifetime purchase option? Have been testing this out, like the interface and features, and would love to keep in mind to recommend to others...but no lifetime purchase option? $89 a year adds up, when you have comparable apps you can buy for about twice that much, but keep for life. Would love to see an outright purchase option added!

I picked this up for FREE ( HAS IN-APP PURCHASE option to upgrade) and was surprised at all the great features, options (a first-then and schedule option!!) and customization of icon sizes, color etc. I also like the history feature where a user's utterances, or even past first-then boards, or schedules, can be pulled up for use again, along with info a helper can edit to include whether the utterance was independent, or prompted-that is a unique feature. One MAJOR glaring error though-which means I sadly won't be using it because it is not convenient the way it is currently set up- there is no SEARCH function to make it easy to quickly add photos on the fly with the schedule and first-then options-two features which really make this app awesome, as everything is all in one place. Right now you have to scroll through all the existing icons to the bottom, where the icons you save go... If you add a search feature I would definitely recommend this to those who want an all-in-one communication set up, and are willing to put in the time to customize it with their own vocabulary.

This can be used in a more limited way without subscription, and also has a subscription feature-, FYI, so be aware, but this is affordably priced and perfect for capturing behaviors- if you have a handful or two of students you need to track, you can use it without making in-app purchases. If you have more (It says the limit is 12 reports, so beyond that you will have to purchase an annual subscription. I got it back when it was non-subscription based, and the company did honor us old-timers by allowing access to the old app- which is very much appreciated. They also very clearly describe what is included in the description as well, so you can see if it is something that would be valuable to you. I appreciate and stand by companies who do this.

Hands down, the best AAC app for a wide variety of users. It grows with the user- you can easily close out vocabulary words so as to not overwhelm a new user learning how to communicate via AAC, and reveal new words as needed. There is also a “babble” feature to quickly turn on all words and explore. There is a “search” feature, for anyone who might be helping how to model use of the device, to teach you where words are, or if they exist/need to be added. There is a history feature, to see how the device is being used, and many more features I appreciate every day. I purchased this for my own son when he was more impacted by his autism, was verbal, but had selective mutism, but have heard from others who use it for apraxia, as well as for users with cognitive impairment. Because of the small button size it may not be appropriate for a user with significant motor impairment, but users with mild motor impairment have had success using it with a custom layover/grid to go over the iPad, to help guide the fingers to the correct button. I also like that the app was created by a Speech Therapist. Some of the more popular and longer-existing apps seem to be a jumble of words where sometimes you will have to navigate through seven or eight pages to get to the word you want to say! Speak For Yourself has vocabulary arranged so that it shouldn’t take more than 2 taps to get to the page where you want to be. Quicker communication= less frustration.

There are a lot of things I like about this app, but some glaring omissions too. First, what is missing: There is no search feature- important if anyone else will be modeling use of the AAC app at home or at school, and that person needs to know where a particular word is located, or if the word exists at all. The second feature missing is the ability to assign a specific page for a button to jump to. You can create new pages very easily (and change between a handful of page button sizes interchangeably), but it appears you can’t make a button to jump to the home page, for example. You also cannot easily hide a bunch of buttons on a page at once, which is useful when first starting out exploring a device. I also was surprised to see a very basic error included- when you tap the “I” button, it announces “capital I” instead of “I”- this was easily fixed, however, by going in to edit mode and teaching it to speak another message, “eye”, so that it sounds correct when selecting “I”. Considering these issues, the lifetime one-time purchase needs to be more competitive. I do like that you get a full 30 days to trial the app as well. (I did have to use my email to create a free account to do this.) Now the pluses: there are several premade vocabulary size options to choose from- I like the 5 x9 grid the best- this has plenty of preloaded vocabulary, and adding more is a quick process-editing is very easy and intuitive - you can even embed you tube videos, your own videos from your camera roll- OR you can take a video on the fly right then and there and add it to a button, very cool. Same with pictures, audio, text, AND drawing- very few AAC apps have this capability. I LOVE the ability to search for a picture online through the internet as well. Sometimes you just want to add a nice picture of a food choice or something, and looking for a clear image of that with no background clutter is easy using this search feature. I also like how you can add a button on any page, as needed, that brings up a pop up text window- where you can write in a word via the keyboard as an additional way to communicate. It is also easy to set the background color of a button- I find it very useful, for quicker word-finding, to use color coding to distinguish between verbs, nouns, and other parts of speech. I think this app has a lot of promise, but needs to add more features to justify such a high price tag if purchasing outright.

Easy to use right from the start, and beautiful icons included in the two premade vocabulary choices offered. I set up my vocabulary with the option suggested for an intermediate user with autism of 12 years old, not sure what other vocabulary sizes, if any are offered beyond the two options I could see- for those who use AAC in a classroom setting, there really needs to be some way to easily switch back and forth between “.profiles”- It appears you can’t do so with this app at all, which is a concern if you plan on using the app with multiple users. Some key features that are very useful in my opinion, such as sentence history- to see what sentences are being made using the app, information about vocabulary being used, and hide/ unhide mode, ARE included, which is great! Other apps have more editing capability- this one appears to have two different grid sizes to pick from, and it would be nice if you could program the buttons to say the text you have entered on a button by default, without having to separately program what text is displayed and what the button to speak, as more often than not it is the same. I realize not everyone needs the bells and whistles, and would prefer this easy, straightforward option. However, the monthly fee is quite high and should add up quickly at the 9.99/ mo IAP this is currently priced. IMO, might as well invest in a more expensive alternative that also can be used straight out of the gate, with the same features, but with much more editing capability, in that case. So I hope a reasonable, one-time purchase option is added for users, as I could see this being helpful for those less versed with AAC, who really need an app everyone, whether caregivers and or staff could easily understand and model- especially if the “ lessons” section of this app discussed in the settings, is developed. Would rate this as a 3 for now, because maybe it will fill someone’s niche perfectly, but again I would like to see more editing options added, and a low one-time fee to have forever access, to be able to recommend it with more confidence. Looks promising. You have to sign up to test out the app but it is free for a month, and now really easy to go into my iTunes settings on the iPad to cancel before getting charged for the month.

Puzzles with a thanksgiving theme. After each puzzle is done, some fun “balloons” come up on the screen to pop- pop them for a fun surprise. Has quite a bit to do, for a free app- parents can unlock additional puzzles through a gated in-app purchase

Lovely, child-friendly- no ads, intuitive to use, no reading necessary to play! The artwork is high quality, or you can easily add your own. This is totally open ended, and fun for kids at home, but I use it in a school setting - My students love to draw their own cards and play memory using their very own drawings to practice their speech sounds! A big hit! On the wishlist for features to add: I would love to see the ability to save sets of cards they drew for later use, and the ability to record sounds/speech.

This works perfectly fine on my iOS 11 iPad- I am unsure if it would be compatible if I updated to the latest iOS but impressed this runs so well, considering how long it has been since it was updated. I would like to see a more recent update just to make sure this app is being supported. I would feel more comfortable recommending it to others that way. Anyhow it is an educationally sound game/spelling activity, supported in a handful of different languages, which is great!

Simple, colorful and engaging with musical tones for each color, with a cute storyline to boot. Child-friendly format. Will use it when the preschoolers do their “Colors” unit.

For 1 player mode, 3 stars would be a more appropriate rating- I feel like already existing competitors that were around first anyway, do a better job of game play- from better character responses to the different foods (in this game they just eat every food happily, as if it all tastes identical- not as much learning in that), and there is better control of the different objects in the scene. In this one, there are so many objects and they don’t have a fixed area, so they just knock in to each other and get in the way. HOWEVER, where this app does shine is in 2 player mode. First of all, no more fighting over both wanting to use the iPad. (now they will just fight about which activity to choose for 2 player mode, ha ha!). Second of all, the characters in the 2 player mode can interact with each other- for example one can go get an item from the fridge, bring it back in to the dining room, and then the second character can reach over to get it etc. That’s pretty cool.

Lets you keep track of how much money spent, in an uncomplicated format. I suppose you could use it easily for monthly expenses, but I use it to keep track of all the apps I have bought. I have a folder called "APP PURCHASES" and then I have started to create lists, depending on category, to keep track of how much $ I have spent- it keeps a running total for you. You can also search by word, so if you want to see how much you have spent only on "AAC" apps, you can do that too. It is handy, and simple, to just write down something, add the amount, and it will calculate automatically... You can also send a CSV file of a folder to yourself or to a variety of other places, if desired...