App Profile: First Words Professional

Thousands of schools use First Words to help their students develop pre-reading, early reading, and language skills. Now there’s a version of First Words specifically for educators and speech language pathologists. Of course, it's great for kids at home, too!

First Words Professional has the same child-friendly design and uncluttered interface that made First Words one of the all-time best selling lines of educational apps for iOS. The new additional features make it the ideal choice for individual, institutional and professional use:

* More Words --- Over 350 words in 12 categories, including shapes, numbers, food, feelings, clothes, animals, and more.
* Six Languages --- Options include American English, British English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese.
* Phonics -- English word lists includes options for spelling with phonics or letter names.
* Category Management --- Choose which categories of words are shown to students. Hide word lists that you don't want them to see.
* Word Management --- Choose which words to include in each category. Focus on shorter words, longer words, or words with particular letter combinations. Hide words that your child finds particularly distracting.

First Words Professional uses the same intuitive interface that is so easy for preschoolers, kindergartners, and kids with special needs to use. They'll giggle with delight at the beautifully drawn pictures and entertaining sounds, all the while learning how letters correspond to sounds and how letters sounds form words.

First Words Professional helps kids develop:

* Fine Motor Control
* Letter Recognition
* Phonemic Awareness
* Word Recognition

First Words Professional includes a large number options:

* Phonics or Letter Names
* Uppercase, Lowercase, or Capitalized Words
* Spell Words Slowly or Quickly
* Serif or Sans-Serif font

Here's what educators and reviewers have said about earlier versions First Words:

“First Words is an app that teaches letters and words in fun and interactive way. Very easy to use these apps will help support your little ones learning with great illustrations and bright colors. Each app supports kids learning and encourages kids to explore and discover by revealing, rewarding and teaching.”
-- Fun Educational Apps

“Excellent - As a teacher, I love this game! Just what technology was meant to do!”
-- iTunes Review

“This app has great settings that let you control the level of difficulty for the child – either with lots of hints or almost none at all. The letters slide nicely into each word and when completed the child is rewarded by having the pictured animal enlarge and animate briefly.”
--Carisa Kluver at Digital Stortyime

“First Words Deluxe is a very straightforward word-building game. Words are either said letter by letter as they are dragged into the appropriate gray boxes or, if chosen in the settings, a smaller set of words can be sounded out with phonics. This makes this game a treat for both pre-readers and early spellers.”
--Common Sense Media

“Looking to guide your toddler towards recognizing letters and how to spell words up to eight letters long? Then First Words Deluxe might be just what you are looking for. This pre-reader and spelling application encourages vocabulary development in a wide range of categories such as: vehicles, animals, at home, colors, and shapes.”
--Andrea Gardner at Applicable2u

"First Words is a great app -- as I said at the time, 'Leo loves First Words because it's fun and easy. I love it because he's learning to spell words, and the interface makes that learning error-free.'"
---Shannon Des Roches Rosa at Squidalicious