Today is the 8th World Autism Awareness Day, which kicks off Autism Awareness Month. Apple is highlighting a series of iOS apps to assist autistic individuals. The apps appear within an Autism Awareness Month section of iTunes under Education heading. iTunes also features a large number of podcasts by non-profit Autism Empowerment.
One in 68 U.S. children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 30% higher than previous estimates, according to the CDC. Information on Autism in Canada can be found here. Hit jump for some of the featured iPad apps.
Proloquo2Go (universal)
The go-to, full featured AAC solution for people who have difficulty speaking. Provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices. New features include natural sounding Text to Speech voices including American, Australian, British and bilingual American Spanish-English children's voices.
Proloquo4Text (universal)
Text‑based communication app that gives a voice to people who cannot speak. It offers a customizable single screen layout for easy conversation, free natural-sounding voices in 15 languages, word and sentence prediction, social media sharing, and more.
Autismate365 (iPad)
Autismate's comprehensive approach encourages the user to develop communication and behavioral skills simultaneously.
Social Skills/life skills
FlummoxVision (iPad, Free)
Flummox and Friends is an offbeat, live-action comedy designed to help kids elementary school children (ages 6 - 12) navigate the social and emotional world.
Kid in Story (iPad)
Kid in Story was specifically designed to benefit children with autism and other special needs by making it fun and easy to create visual stories to support learning, social modeling, and early literacy.
Pictello (universal)
Pictello is a simple way to create talking photo albums and talking books. Each page in a Pictello Story can contain a picture, up to five lines of text, and a recorded sound or text-to-speech using high-quality voices.
Choiceworks (universal)
Helps users manage daily routines, and encourages patience and managing emotions.
iDress for Weather (universal)
Provides a customizable closet and individualized temperature settings to allow people to personalize the connection between wether and clothing.
Games and Play:
PuddingStone (iPad)
Developed in collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital, PuddingStone makes language development fun and interactive.
Toca Band (universal)
Rock out with this fun and easy toy that encourages children to experiment with sounds, beats and rhythms.
Toca Town (universal)
Explore different locations about town such as Toca restaurant, store, park and more
Injini: Child Development Game Suite (iPad)
Collection of learning games that offers meaningful play to young children with cognitive, language, and fine motor delays.
ChatterPix Kids (free, universal)
Give your photos a voice with ChatterPix! Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. Then share your Pix with friends and family as silly greetings, playful messages, or creative cards.
Peek A Zoo (universal)
Engage children in an interactive experience where they will learn the names of different animals and how to identify social emotional cues.
Math:
Tiggly Counts (iPad)
Tiggly Counts is a math toy for iPad that helps pre-schoolers and kindergartners (age three and older) develop early numeracy, counting, and math skills. It includes a set of five sleek, magnetic counting toys that interact with three different learning apps on your iPad.
Todo Number Matrix (iPad)
Includes fun and challenging matrices for children to practice math skills.
Motion Math: Pizza! (universal)
Learn economics and mental math as you buy ingredients, design pizzas, set prices, and serve customers in this delightfully delicious simulation game.
iPad, now in its fifth year, has been a key communication tool for many children and families with Autism.