7 Apps That Teach Literacy Skills: Visual and Sonic Aids Can Help Students with Language Disorders Improve Their Reading, Writing and Speaking

MOBILE DEVICES can help students who have trouble communicating orally by allowing them to converse using pictures and the written word (what's known as augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC). Any number of apps can facilitate AAC, but some of them are particularly well-suited for helping students with language disorders learn how to read and how to effectively express themselves in writing. Below, we review some exciting new features in seven apps that teach these skills. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] VizZle VizZle's portal called Teach lets you organize, customize and launch interactive instructional academic lessons on the VizZle Player (free in the App Store). Lessons can then be used on PCs, Macs, touchscreens, interactive whiteboards and within Player apps for Android tablets and iPads. Families, school staff and therapists who subscribe can share lessons and data on student progress. (Yearly rates start at less than $500.) A shared library contains educator-approved audio, video, photos and line drawings that you can customize with appropriate behavioral supports to make it fun for students. These resources cover social skills lessons in addition to an array of academic subjects, many of which are aligned with the Common Core. The app has a visual schedule built in, with a timer in the corner to show how much time is left. Students can track their progress with game boards that list their scores. A new set of materials for teaching reading includes activities that break words down into letter and sound pairings, while also showing how to combine those sounds to form words. Additional activities reinforce word comprehension. Teachers can add a quiz to check that the student understands; VizZle allows you to layer phonics, pop-ups and quizzes in whatever way works best for the child. The Phonics+ template is also great for teaching spelling or vocabulary words. You can use any list, from basic CVC words to SAT vocabulary, and set the lessons up to emphasize meaning, spelling or both. Other new features include switch accessibility, with either automatic or two-step switch scanning; a redesign of the Build-a-Book application that allows you to record yourself reading a book so your student can listen and read at any time; and bigger audio and video buttons. Crack the Books Crack the Books is a standards-based, core-curriculum-aligned digital book series, with both interactive elements and universal design accessibility features. Designed for students at all ability levels, the interactive books in the series can be adjusted for reading level, from first grade to eighth grade, so students in a class can experience the same content while reading at their ability level. These books include beautiful photographs; video footage; interesting facts; animations and images; and interactive charts, tables and globes. Comprehension supports are built into the text, along with pop-up definitions for associated vocabulary. Users can adjust print size and customize voice-over options within the app to accommodate students with print disabilities or other limitations. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Currently, three books in the series include teacher resources with lesson plans, worksheets, activities and study guides. These titles, which cost $9.99 each, are Pines to Vines (about forests), Sea Shores to Sea Floors (about oceans) and Blades (about grasslands). Books available without teacher resources include Aquatic Earth, Cycles of Earth and Parched Planet. AutisMate Designed as an AAC for students who have trouble with oral language, AutisMate ($149.99 in the App Store) is an iPad app that offers a variety of visual supports, including visual scenes, visual schedules, video modeling, visual social stories and grid-based AAC. The app supports vocabularies ranging from simple to complex. While the visual schedules, video modeling and visual stories are all wonderful, we focus on communication skills, which are best improved using the Smart Scenes and Sentence Builder functions. …