Self-Advocacy Apps for Students with Hearing Loss

Self-advocacy apps help students with hearing loss learn to speak up, explain their needs, and get the support they need in school and everyday life. These apps teach vocabulary, social language, and ways to ask for captions, FM systems, and other accommodations.

What are Self-Advocacy Apps?

Self-advocacy apps help students with hearing loss learn how to manage hearing technology, request accommodations, solve communication problems, and participate more independently in school and everyday situations.

Apps are a convenient, brain-based, motivational learning strategy for parents and professionals working with students with hearing loss. Within our field, there are multiple uses for apps such as language, literacy, auditory, and self-advocacy skill development.

Have a self-advocacy app that you like? Let us know so we can include it here for others to try! Email information about the app and how you like to use it to info@successforkidswithhearingloss.com. Thanks!

Self-Advocacy Skills Apps

Focusing specifically on self-advocacy skills, Rule the School apps can be used to teach and practice specific vocabulary and the social language that students need to use to get their needs met and maintain access in their educational environments. Three apps are specific to amplification: Hearing Aid, TicTacToe Bingo, and 2 FM Bingos featuring Phonak’s Inspiro and Roger Pen FM (also available as digital products). These apps are designed for 2, 3, or 4 players and implement either Bingo or Tic-Tac-Toe games. There are 3 sets of cards in each game to select from: pictures of the parts, labels, and functions, so they can be used by ages 4 and up.

The original Rule the School Self-Advocacy Board Game is available as either an app or a digital product. You can use it as a vocabulary check as well as to see the students’ knowledge of communication repair, equipment management, securing accommodations, and preferential seating.

Last is a fun Hangman Game. Vocabulary is selected from one of five word banks: Accommodations, Hearing Aids, Hearing Testing, Cochlear Implants, and FM.

Data sheets and sample IEP goals are available for all apps by going to www.rule-the-school.com, clicking on the “Apps are Here” tab, and clicking download on the resource needed. Apps are available in iTunes.

Essential Self-Advocacy Skills Every Student With Hearing Loss Should Learn

Include:

• understanding hearing loss
• hearing aid and cochlear implant management
• FM/Roger technology use
• requesting accommodations
• communication repair strategies
• self-determination
• transition readiness

Frequently Asked Questions: Self-Advocacy Apps for Hearing Loss

What are self-advocacy apps for students with hearing loss?
Self-advocacy apps are interactive digital tools designed to help deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students master independence. Instead of relying entirely on adults, these apps use gamification to teach students how to:

• Identify the components and basic troubleshooting steps of their hearing technology.
• Articulate their acoustic access needs to mainstream teachers and peers.
• Deploy communication repair strategies when they miss auditory information.

What specific self-advocacy apps and games are recommended?
Several specialized digital tools and interactive games are built specifically for DHH educational development:

• Deafverse: A popular, free choose-your-own-adventure online game designed to help deaf youth practice self-advocacy skills in high school, employment, and community settings.
• Rule the School Self-Advocacy Suite: A collection of paid interactive apps (available on iTunes/App Store) including the Self-Advocacy Board Game, Hearing Aid TicTacToe Bingo, and specialized FM/DM Technology Bingo modules.

How do these digital tools teach “communication repair strategies”?
A core benefit of these apps is teaching children what to do when a communication breakdown occurs. They provide interactive scenarios where students practice specific techniques:

Can self-advocacy apps be tied directly to IEP goals?
Yes, absolutely. Educators frequently use these apps as instructional tools to support Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals related to assistive technology independence and self-determination.

Pro Tip for Educators: Many specialized tools, like those from Rule the School, offer companion printable data sheets and sample IEP goal templates to help Teachers of the Deaf (TODHH) easily track a student’s vocabulary acquisition and situational problem-solving progress.

At what age should students start using these tools?
Instruction can begin as early as preschool. Early childhood modules focus on basic technology ownership, such as a child recognizing if their hearing aid battery is dead or learning the names of their devices. As students transition into middle and high school, the digital scenarios scale up to address complex real-world situations, legal rights under Section 504/ADA, and postsecondary transition planning.

Additional Resources:
Self-Advocacy Resource Guide
Self-Advocacy as a Stand-Alone Service
Self-Advocacy Skill Development is required in the Classroom
Self-Advocacy Skills for Students with Hearing Loss
Don’t wait! Self-Advocate
The Ultimate Goal: Self-Determination 
Listening Inventory For Education (LIFE-R)
Teen Transition: A Necessary Part of Future Success

Thanks to Monica Faherty for sharing this information on apps with Supporting Success! Monica is the developer and owner of Rule the School self-advocacy products. Posted Jan 2016.

Originally published: June 2017
Last update: June 2026