Friday, August 26, 2016

Social Skills Apps for Kids

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Children with autism and hyperlexia need to be taught social skills and the hidden rules of different social scenarios directly.

We like to build these skills through reading, play, social stories, and apps. It is important to use visuals to support social skill learning. Here are some of our favorite social skills apps for kids with autism and hyperlexia.

Social skills apps for kids with autism, hyperlexia, or other special needs from And Next Comes L

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Social Skills Apps for Kids


Social skills appSocial skills appSocial skills appSocial skills appSocial skills app

1. Autism & PDD Stories & Language Activities Social Skills

We love these apps! Not only do they go over different social scenarios, but they focus on building comprehension skills. There are various apps available such as:


Choiceworks app

2. Choiceworks

Choiceworks is a must have app, in my opinion! You can create visual schedules for your child that are supported by visual and audio features. You can also add timers to the schedule. There is also features to support calm down and self-regulation strategies, as well as timers to make waiting less difficult for kids. Great app! Bundle up and save to get this app and Choiceworks Calendar.

Choiceworks calendar app

3. Choiceworks Calendar

Love this app as much as the regular Choiceworks app, but focuses more on a calendar mode. You can create an entire month of visual schedules for kids to include appointments, holidays, special events, and more! Bundle up and save to get this app and Choiceworks.

Breathe, think, do with Sesame app

4. Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame

This free app focuses on building self regulation skills through video and interactive tasks. Your child will learn calm down breathing from this app and practice making plans for handling overwhelming situations.

Social stories creator and library app - social skills apps for kids from And Next Comes L

5. Social Stories Creator and Library

This app has a great collection of social stories and even gives you the ability to create your own. Each social story includes images, text, and audio for multi-sensory learning. There is an option to also break down the story into its specific rules to reinforce the main parts of the stories.

Autism iHelp emotions app - social skills apps for kids from And Next Comes L

6. Autism iHelp - Emotions 

This app uses real photos of people and the written word to reinforce different emotions. Pretty basic, but I do like the simplicity of it.

Emotions flashcards app

7. Emotions: Flashcards to Learn to Recognize Feelings and Emotions 

This emotions app offers a few different ways to play: flashcards, matching, and picking the correct emotion. I also like the odd one out games. The app uses real photos of children and adults. The only thing I wish it had was the emotion written out below the photo to support the spoken words.

Social Express II app

8. The Social Express II 

J used this app a lot when he was doing occupational therapy and really enjoyed it. It uses videos to help kids learn and practice social rules. It is a subscription based app though, so it is a bit expensive for my liking, but still a great app for working on social skills.

Samsung look at me app

9. Look at Me (android only) 

A free app that is available for android devices only. It focuses on building eye contact skills.

Visual timer - social skills apps for kids from And Next Comes L

10. Time In: Smart timer to visualize the passage of time 

This app allows you to create step by step visual scripts for tasks such as brushing teeth, eating lunch, etc. As the name of the app implies, it is also a visual timer. The timer also features calming classical music.

Let's be social app

11. Let's Be Social: Social Skills Development 

This app has lots of lessons and quizzes to help kids learn social skills. You can also create your own lessons.

Model me going places 2 app

12. Model Me Going Places 2 

This free app features narrated photo social stories (video modeling) for going to the hairdresser, going to the mall, going to the doctor, going to the playground, going to the grocery store, and going to the restaurant.

Social norms app

13. Social Norms 

This app has over 50 illustrated social stories and allows you to create individualized stories. We haven't tried this one out yet, but it looks really great!

Look in my eyes: train engineer for iPad app

14. Look in my Eyes: Train Engineer for iPad

This app is a good one for little train lovers! It focuses on building eye contact skills. Again, we haven't tried this one out ourselves, as J isn't really into trains, but it looks like a fun app.

Other Ideas You'll Love

Free Social Skills Printables for Kids

Free Printable Daily Visual Schedule for Kids

Apps for Kids to Work on Pronouns

Social skills apps for kids with autism, hyperlexia, or other special needs from And Next Comes L