Many apps (applications) are available to promote early learning for young children who are blind or visually impaired, including those who are deafblind or who have multiple disabilities. This is a partial list (part one of two) to help you get started. The apps here help young children to develop basic cognitive skills, such as cause & effect and matching. They also help to reinforce eye-hand coordination, vocalization, and response to sensory input. These apps have been used specifically with young children especially those with additional needs, or have been chosen because the visual component is very clear and/or the auditory/sound aspects are of high quality and clear. Many of these apps are particulary appropriate for children with CVI (Cortical Visual Impairment).
Assessment
As you use the iPad more, the assessment of the child’s visual and/or auditory abilities become easier. We recommend that you begin with an assessment of the child, using these tools:
For more information, see: iPad, iPod, iPhone – iTechnology and apps that have been used successfully with individuals with deafblindness or with visual impairments and additional disabilities
Early Learning Apps
The apps have been organized into the following categories. Use this list to jump to each section, or scroll through the whole list.
Cause & Effect
| Colorful quizzes, flashcards, puzzles and games with positive reinforcement and fun rewards. | |
| Great “first app” that teachers single finger fine motor skills as well as cause and effect while teaching about touch screen technology. | |
| First app for iPad and iPhone created specifically for children with CVI. Animals float around, tap them and it will make the animals come towards the screen. | |
| Tap the barn doors to see what animals are waiting inside. Childred learn the names of animals and hear the sounds they make. | |
| Happy, balloon popping bee helps children learn letters, numbers, and colors. | |
| Kids can touch the screen to show and hear letters and shapes, flick them to send them flying across the screen, and press them and the letters shrink and grow. | |
| Designed for babies and people with some forms of autism and special needs. Press the screen using as many fingers as you like to create a random object and hear a random sound. | |
Matching
| Clear, colorful images of everyday objects promote an understanding of functions and the relationships between items that children encounter on a daily basis. | |
| Children learn about colors and listen to classical music at the same time. | |
| A fun matching game for children to learn about animals, fruits, vegetables and more. | |
| Classic game of concentration specifically designed to be fun and educational. | |
| Designed to help children learn to identify the names twelve different colors. | |
| Memory matches game with many different colorful and vivid pair cards. |
Sounds
| When user taps on an animal or vehicle icon, the game will verbally announce what type of animal or vehicle it is and play a recording of its real sound. | |
| Tap a picture (animals, wild animals, wild birds, vehicles, musical-instruments and household items) and a real life photo of the item pops open, accompanied by the sound it makes. | |
| Conventional rattle as an iOS app, producing soothing sounds when tilted, inverted and rattled. | |
| Sound effects to play on iOS app. | |
Glow Art
These apps may be particularly popular with kids with CVI.
| Draw on a blank black canvas or on customized background with glowing lines. | |
| Glow / light paintings, twinkle stars, fireworks and animated text art in one app. | |
| Tap the screen and “fireworks” with sound display. | |
| The original tic-tac-toe game played on a black screen with glowing lights and displays. | |
| Light spirographs on the iOS device in reaction to the screen being tapped. | |
| Tap the iOS screen and watch as fireworks burst into an explosion of color. | |
| Fluid dynamics simulation, control fluid flow and stunning colours at fingertips. | |
| Bring glow painting to a whole new level with three-dimensional symmetries. | |
| An iOS app toy, a 3D audiovisual physics simulation of a spinning, wobbling, and sometimes morphing top. | |
| The most realistic fireworks app and an interactive visualizer that responds smoothly and beautifully to swipe gesture. | |
| Designed for teenagers with autism, complex learning needs and a variety of sensory disabilities. It provides 21 engaging, abstract scenes which encourage exploration of cause and effect. | |
| This app simulates various heat-sensitive surfaces reacting to the heat of fingertips. | |
| Painting app using glowing colors. | |
| Visual stimulating app for people with special/complex needs of ALL ages. |
Bubbles
| Shoot the bubble where you want it to go by tapping on the game board. | |
| Burst bubbles to trigger a chain reaction in order to eliminate them in this puzzle game. | |
| Develop fine motor skills with full multi-touch support and custom backgrounds. |
Spelling and Printing
| Help students learn to read, write, and spell words all with just the touch of their finger. | |
| This app combines fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension practice with entertaining, engaging graphics in a disguised-learning format. | |
| 3D mobile game that motivates children to learn to spell while having fun and improving their hand/eye coordination. | |
| Trace the alphabet with fingers on screen. | |
| Powerful gaming platform that introduces new concepts in a fun and exciting new way. | |
| Show students how to properly write all of the letters and numbers. | |
| Teach students uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, shapes, special letters. | |
| This application provides a place to learn basic concepts such and numbers, colors and more in an enjoyable and rich environment. | |
| Teach children about letters, how letters relate to sounds, and even how to spell words with this simple interactive app. |
Talking
| Talk to Tom and he will repeat anything that is said in his funny voice. | |
| Original updated to be even more engaging and hilarious for users. | |
| Talk to Tom & Ben and they repeat as news anchors on a TV screen. | |
| Speech therapy app on iOS. | |
| He repeats after the user and makes up new sentences and he plays the guitar! |
Talking Tom Cat 2
Talking Tom & Ben News
Bla | Bla | Bla
Talking PierreMusic for Children
| Play music on this realistic-sounding xylophone app. | |
| An app safe for children to use on their own while they play with musical buttons and sounds. | |
| This app brings a world of music to the fingertips, from piano, xylophone to electric guitar. | |
| This app listens to a song and identifies the name, artist, lyrics and album. | |
| Key piano with multitouch, adjustable reverb, metronome, dual row, completely resizable keys, real piano sound, chord support, glissando, sizable sharps, navigation bar, note labels, theme colors, sustain pedal, adjustable metronome, learn to play songs, and it’s all FREE! | |
| This app includes four authentic sounding sets of Scottish and Swedish bagpipes. | |
|
Identify music with this app. |
Please note that you may need to check whether the app has been updated or whether it only works with certain operating systems. This page was last checked on 3/4/2024.
To see more of Linda Mamer’s lists of recommended apps for students who are blind, visually impaired, deafblind or who have multiple disabilities click here.
