Apraxia Therapy Materials: Talking Carl iPhone / iPad App

If you have access to an iPhone or iPad there are a lot of apps that can be used to elicit speech from your little one. One in particular that can work well with a child at any stage is Talking Carl. (Note: There are other "talking" apps as well. Most are free or 99 cents. Just be sure to try a couple and choose the one you like best before you try it with your child. Some of them are not appropriate for children.)

Talking Carl is an interactive little monster with big eyes and a big mouth. He will giggle when tickled, and complain when poked. Children almost always crack up laughing themselves when they tickle or poke Carl. If you have a nonverbal child, just being able to get a giggle or an "ouch" in sympathy is good speech practice.

The other key thing Carl does is listen to what your child says when they talk into your phone and then repeat their words back to them. So if your child says, "Hi!" Carl will repeat, "Hi!" Carl will repeat anything the child says. If you are looking for a fun way to get your child to talk, this might do the trick for you. Check it out.

Here is a short YouTube video that demonstrates most of the things Talking Carl does (except the giggling). I chose this one because it was short, but did a nice demonstration of the speech repetition (not in English, but still a good demonstration).

You might also be interested in the following articles:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Doodle Buddy iPhone / iPad App

Apraxia Therapy Materials: The Big Book of Exclamations