Best AAC apps 2021
Overview
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) apps can be used for different reasons by adults and children with developmental and speech disabilities.
The user has the freedom to express emotional states, needs, and opinions when using an AAC app.
The apps presented below help individuals who struggle to speak due to Autism, Stroke, Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, and Down Syndrome.
Finding the best app that suits all of your requirements can be challenging. Here's our review of some helpful AAC apps that may help you find the right one for the AAC user's needs.
Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products;
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Top by App Store Customer Satisfaction
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4.9
4.8
4.6
4.4
4.2
4.0
3.7
The top is based on the ratings from 6 October 2021.
Our top picks
Best Rated:
The feedback from AAC users placed Fluent AAC in the #1 position in our top.
Best Budget:
A price of just $49.99 makes Snap Core First Full the best option if you are looking for low budget AAC solution.
In-depth review
Fluent AAC
rating:
4.9 stars
Price:
$89.99/year or $299.99 for lifetime
What we like:
- The app is highly customizable.
- Symbols designed by French artists, based on research. The symbols were created to make the app user-friendly
- You can choose between Female or Male symbols.
- Easy to use. The app design is very intuitive.
- Vocabulary is based on the research
- Current communication skills don't matter - it supports both beginning and advanced communicators.
- You can use your own photos by taking pictures within the app or selecting them from your photo library.
- The "Hide Words" feature allows users to begin with only one word and add new comments to the vocabulary at their own pace.
- The words the user learns never change position. This means that the user will never have to repeat those words.
- The Search feature allows educators, therapists, and parents to find vocabulary quickly.
- You can turn off any feature that you find you don't need.
- You can change the button size. This is helpful for children with vision or motor problems and those just starting with AAC.
- The option that changes certain words on the screen when one button is pushed, allowing the device to predict what you may be trying to say.
- The "Lock" function blocks a specific page on the screen so you can teach the words on that page without navigating to another page when you push a button.
- A lot of support materials
- It is easy for parents, teachers, and speech therapists to learn how to use it
Proloquo2go
rating:
4.8 stars
Price:
$249.99 and optional in-app purchases
What we like:
- The app is fully customizable.
- It can be utilized to build language skills and grow with a person’s communication.
- Supporting both beginning and advanced communicators.
- The app has a built-in library of 25,000 symbols.
- You can use your own photos by taking pictures within the app or selecting them from your photo library.
- Vocabulary is based on the research
- Proloquo2Go offers options like 23 pre-programmed grid sizes.
- Support switch scanning and Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader.
- A lot of support materials
- You can hide buttons.
Speak for Yourself
rating:
4.6 stars
Price:
$299.99 and optional in-app purchases
What we like:
- Vocabulary is based on the research of the most commonly used words across age, languages, settings, and situations.
- The open and close feature allows users to begin with only one word and add to their vocabulary at their own pace.
- The first word the user learns never changes position. This means that the user will never have to learn how to say that first word again.
- Babble allows users to explore vocabulary by opening every word in the application by touching one button.
- The Search feature allows educators, therapists, and parents to capture teachable moments and find vocabulary quickly.
Avaz AAC
rating:
4.4 stars
Price:
$99.99 per year or $199.99 for lifetime
What we like:
- The helpful sidebar at the right of the screen offers quick choices such as going back, going home, using quick phrases,
- An error button that will immediately say “I made a mistake,” and an alert button that plays a doorbell-type noise that could be used to gain attention or alert a listener to a problem.
- This app is highly customizable
- You can turn off any feature that you find you don’t need.
- You can also hide any buttons if you need a less-distracting screen.
- You can also change the button size to just one button per page up to 40 pictures per screen. This is helpful for children with vision or motor problems and those just starting with AAC.
TD Snap AAC
rating:
3.8 stars
Price:
$49.99 and optional in-app purchases
What we like:
- Data collection is available in Snap Core First. When the in-app track button usage is enabled, Snap will record information about each button activation. Primary button usage data can be visualized as button usage counts within Snap, and additional data visualizations are available in the Usage Reports section of your account. Modeling mode records data events separately to be differentiated from everyday user events.
- You can continuously build vocabulary and skills and take advantage of motor learning by introducing new vocabulary systematically and purposefully.
- A free Boardmaker Online Community account is included with your Tobii Dynavox account.
-The Boardmaker Activity Library is pre-populated with several activities: calendars, games for practicing access methods, and more.
Sono Flex
rating:
4.2 stars
Price:
$99.99 for lifetime
What we like:
- The freedom to personalize vocabulary for individual and situational communication needs.
- Over 50 pre-made context vocabularies for various situations and topics.
- Sono Flex also comes with templates that make it easy to create your topic boards, making it easy for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to get started with the vocabulary.
TouchChat HD - AAC
rating:
3.8 stars
Price:
$299.99 for WordPower option
What we like:
“Touch Chat with Word Power” vocabulary, which is more expensive but gives you access to the word power boards, allowing for much more language use.
- You have the option to choose from many different pre-programmed boards. For example, you can start with elementary boards designed for young children with developmental delays or move up to a more sophisticated device.
- There are specific boards for adolescents with bigger buttons for those who aren’t ready for the sophisticated boards but who need more advanced language than a preschooler would need.
- These boards range from 20 buttons per page to 80 buttons per page, allowing the child to have access to as many buttons as his motor skills will allow.
- The option that changes certain words on the screen when one button is pushed, allowing the device to predict what you may be trying to say.
- The pages, grid layout, buttons, messages, and symbols are fully customizable.
- Buttons can be copied and pasted into a different location or rearranged by simply dragging them to the desired new location.