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Though symptoms vary widely from one person to the next, they may include speech delays or complete absence of speech, lack of interest in friendships or relationships, difficulty with social cues, fixation, repetitive behaviors, avoiding eye contact, and poor motor skills.
For autistic people and parents of autistic children, help may come in the form of technology. We’ve rounded up the best apps for autism in hopes they’ll reach and impact more people.
iPhone rating: 4.7 stars
Price: $249.99
Proloquo2Go is an app specifically designed for people who are nonverbal. It promotes language development and allows people to communicate through the use of pictures. It’s designed not only for autistic children, but their families, therapists, and educators. It presents users with images they’re most likely to use and has a level-based system for basic to advanced vocabularies.
iPhone rating: 4.4 stars
Android rating: 4.3 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
One of the first steps in learning to read is recognizing sight words, which are some of the most commonly used words in children’s books. Endless Reader begins here, teaching children the words most important in learning to develop reading skills. The app and first package of words are free! The app uses colorful monsters and fun sounds to keep users entertained and engaged.
iPhone rating: 4.4 stars
Android rating: 4.6 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
This app for language and cognitive abilities has gone through clinical studies and helped over 8,000 children learn how to speak confidently and achieve language development milestones. It’s also available in numerous languages, including English, Spanish, German, Arabic, and more.
iPhone rating: 4.5 stars
Android rating: 3.2 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
The Otsimo app uses techniques designed around applied behavior analysis (ABA) and alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) to help children reach speech development milestones as well as achieve desired lifestyle skills, behaviors, and much more. It has over 50 games that can be personalized to a child’s specific needs, and it provides progress reports along the way that show how far they’ve come since using the app.
Android rating: 4.1 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Using the AAC method, this app provides a communication assistance method that lets users tap on images, hear sounds and words pronounced aloud, and develop personalized communication boards that can help them verbally communicate their needs and thoughts. It acts as a virtual tool belt of common words and can help users learn to verbalize their thoughts with practice over time.
Android rating: 4.4 stars
Price: Free with in-app purchases
This app provides a number of fun, educational activities in English, Spanish, and Portuguese based on the TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communications Handicapped Children) methodology that acknowledges the biological basis of autism and other spectrum conditions that result in specific communication strengths and weaknesses. This app helps people of any level of verbal communication develop their skills, build their confidence, and have fun learning.
If you want to nominate an app for this list, email us at nominations@healthline.com.