Description
Special Words from Special iApps is an app that gets children to match words, pictures and sounds. It comes with 96 commonly used words. The words have been translated into over 20 languages including English, French, Spanish and Italian. Parents can add their own words, pictures and sounds and many settings can be personalised (such as speed and number of cards) to suit each child’s needs.
Designed for Special Educational Needs, the app uses a clear and uncluttered design for children who can become overwhelmed, overstimulated or easily distracted. It is also suitable for young children without SEN.
What our experts think
Special Words is a lovely simple app, which is ideal for teaching children with SEN and young children new words and encouraging their speech. Matching words, pictures and sounds also encourages picture recognition, and matching skills. Our little testers really enjoyed playing the app, especially the praise when they got the answer right!
Parents loved that they could customise the app with their own words, pictures and sounds; this means that the app can be used to support sight words being learned in school. The language can easily be changed, making this app a great way for children to learn foreign languages too.
It would be even better if…
The app is very customisable, but can only be changed through the tablet’s settings and not through the app, making the options difficult to find.
We found that once a word is removed from the list it can’t be added back – it would be better if there was a checklist add/remove words. Our testers also said they would like more preloaded words (e.g. high frequency words).
What our testers said
“Ooh this is fun.” – Boy aged 5
“Look mum, I can do it.” – Girl aged 7
