Smarty Ears Apps is a company that creates apps specifically designed for children with disabilities. The company boasts more than 35 apps for kids with speech and language delays and disorders such as Stuttering, articulation delays, autism, down syndrome, and language disorders. Below, I’ve highlighted just a few of the many apps that are available.
That’s How I Feel is a simple app that uses symbols to allow students to express their feelings. Three colors are used to represent feelings. Positive feelings like “happy,” “great” and “excited” are green buttons. Negative feelings like “hungry,” “confused” and “angry” are yellow and red buttons. Students can select a button to express how they are feeling. This app can also be used to teach students vocabulary about feelings. Voice recordings convey appropriate intonation for each feeling on “That’s how I feel”.
Dysphagia2Go is a revolutionary app connecting the dysphagia assessment world to technology. Dysphagia2Go offers an easy to use, HIPPA compliant resource to complement a Clinical Dysphagia Evaluation. This app provides an evaluation report template developed by speech pathologists to record chart reviews, assessment data, and recommendations in a single document. The document can be printed or e-mailed directly from the user’s iPad.
Smart Oral Motor is an app that helps kids improve the basic functions of oral motor skills. The muscles in the mouth, jaw, lips and tongue are responsible for smiling, facial expressions, and even swallowing. Children with Apraxia of Speech, Down syndrome or craniofacial anomalies many times experience difficulties with their oral motor skills. This app provides fun and engaging practice of oral motor skills. Clever, an entertaining duck character, practices several oral motor exercises such as puckering lips, sending a kiss, puffing cheeks and 12 others.
Smarty Ears was founded in December of 2009 by Barbara Fernandes, a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist certified by the American Speech and Hearing Association. Smarty Ears was the first company to create apps geared towards speech therapy for mobile devices. The mission of the company is to provide the best tools that engage every child to learn, develop appropriate communication skills and become better communicators.