COMMUNICATION

These are some popular Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) apps to help users with daily communication and building language skills through picture/symbol- and text/typingbased systems:

AssistiveWare offers an interactive guide to find which AAC app best fits your needs, in addition to accessible keyboard apps and bundles. Allows you to tap images or type words to speak. Customizable to support beginning and advanced communicators, and available in multiple languages, Proloquo2Go ($249.99 for iOS, $124.99 for Mac). Plan on a few hours for setup/ instruction videos.

Proloquo is more userfriendly and streamlined for children with good vision and fine motor skills. Designed to support language growth from first words to full literacy. (1 month free trial, $9.99/month or $99.99/year, iPhone and iPad; share app with user’s team at no extra cost.)

TouchChat HD is a fullfeatured communication solution offering easy navigation for child, family and care team. Head tracking capability is included (with latest iPad/iPhone models) for those with limited use of their hands. ($149.99, $299.99 with WordPower suite of vocabularies – the most popular version, TouchChat Discover free 30 day trial)

Goally AAC Talker is an easy-to-use symbol-based talker app included in Goally’s Therapy Suite Apps for kids, which also includes: Visual Schedules, Checklists, Reminders, Language Learning Games,

Finger-Dexterity Games, & more. Included are 100+ pre-built routine templates, 50+ video learning modules, free invites to your therapy and teacher team, and fun characters. App. (Apple/Android; App Suite $15/month + $149 for dedicated device free from Web browsers and social media). GetGoally.com offers a free printyour-own visual schedule builder.

Card Talk supports communication with 200 picture cards with voice sound or your own photos with voice recording for children who have difficulties in verbal communication. Free with in-app purchases; Apple/Android)

Dictation

Dragon Anywhere dictation and text-to-speech app creates, edits, formats and shares documents of any length directly from your mobile device and can synchronize with the Dragon desktop software. (Free one-week trial converts to $14.99/month or $149.99/year subscription; Apple/Android)

Otter.ai records and transcribes conversations and virtual or in-person meetings with real time captions and meeting notes. (Free to download, Pro $16.99/month, $99.99/year; Apple/Android) pConsider taking advantage of free trial periods. Pay close attention to cancellation terms and conditions — and set reminders for yourself to turn off auto-renew, usually at least 24 hours before the end of a subscription period, before incurring charges you do not want. Also watch for promotion codes or discounts during certain times of the year. *Pricing of subscriptions and apps are subject to change.