Even though I don’t teach anymore, I still look for resources that are out there to help children with special needs. It will always be where my heart is. I may not work in a classroom anymore, but as a learning consultant I can still help, just in a different capacity. And I love that I can reach an even greater audience with my blog. Here are two free apps that will help tremendously if your child has a disability.

The first one is called Verbal Me. It is super simple to use. This app provides nonverbal children with a series of choice boards in all different categories. For example, one screen simply has yes and no buttons. When the child taps on the button of their choice, the app says it out loud. For example, you ask your child, “Are you hungry?” and they tap on the command for “Yes.” Some of the different boards have different foods, colors, and even let your child indicate their feelings (happy, sad, ect.). You can personalize the app to let it know if the child is a boy or girl and even change the gender of the voice command.

The next app is called Natural Read. You can upload a document into the app using either Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or by typing or copy and pasting and it will read it to you. There is even an option to use the app to click through to a website that you would like read to you. All sentences are highlighted in the selection as they are read to you, and the words being read at the time are displayed on top. This is a great app for anyone struggling to read or with a vision impairment.

Both of these apps that I use are the free or lite versions. Both offer paid versions of the app that offer more features. However, for your basic needs the free app should suffice. Check out both apps in my video.