# First Phrases — A speech therapy app!

> Interactive app for children learning to combine words into phrases. (iPhone/iPad app by Hamaguchi Learning & Development, LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-phrases/id473894018 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Hamaguchi Learning & Development, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/460288922)
- Category: Education, Games
- Price: $15.99 with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.20/5 from 13 App Store ratings · 65 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.6 · 612 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2011-11-01
- Data updated: 2026-08-27
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-phrases/id473894018/reviews.md

## What is First Phrases?

From SmartAppsforKids.com: "In my opinion, First Phrases is a must-have for parents of children working on increasing expressive vocabulary, as well as the therapists and teachers who support their learning. First Phrases is creative, utilizes the iPad’s features in effective ways, and is engaging for young children. Highly recommended."

This interactive, illustrated and animated app is perfect for a toddler, preschooler, or any child who is learning to put two or three word English phrases together. It provides many opportunities to hear (receptive), see, and say/record (expressive--if the child is talking) 72 different verb + noun combinations, such as: eat the carrot, blow the bubble, ride the bike, throw the ball, sleep on the bed, put away the toys, and more. 

With 6 different characters performing the actions, there are 456 possible animations so your child will never be bored!  

Each verb form is paired with several associated nouns to make a logical phrase such as "eat the apple" or "eat the banana" or "eat the carrot". It is also a great way to teach the article “the” in a meaningful phrase context.  Use with 20 children, making it an excellent choice for professional use by a speech-language pathologist. There is also a group setting that allows several children to be engaged at once yet still have their own personal settings. Replay missed items, email results or print them out on the Session Results page!

How to play: Tell the characters what to do! Touch the illustrated parts of the phrases in order one at a time (e.g. “eat... the... carrot”). The child hears the pre-recorded spoken phrase modeled. You can have this repeated once, twice or three times in the settings for maximum auditory input.  

Children who are not yet talking can skip the recording option and simply tap/see the associated animation on the Easy Level to learn the meanings of the phrases and to build language comprehension.

The child then watches the character (bear, mouse, cat, dog, boy or girl) perform the command to help associate the words with their meaning. Now it’s the child’s turn to say it and tell them what to do! Tap the microphone and record, listen again, and watch the character follow the direction. Use the optional visual support to help remember what to say! On the scoring page, an adult can indicate what parts of the verb phrase were produced correctly for data collection if desired, then tap "Done". When all parts of the phrase are correct the character gives a thumbs-up.

This format is especially powerful for children with speech delays and autism spectrum disorders who need strong visual support with as little background clutter as possible, and for use in speech therapy sessions. The format also is a terrific way to support early literacy for left to right orientation, reading (with text on feature) and word boundaries. Options include text on/text off, recording feature on/off, girl or boy narration voice models, presentation of the phrase in 3 segments (verb + the + object) or 2 segments (verb + the object). 

A perfect speech therapy app for children with special needs!

PRIVACY POLICY: We do NOT collect personal data from our users and have no ads. Personal data regarding user performance on the tasks on this app are self-contained and not transmitted in any way. This is a one-time download fee. We do not have subscriptions. 

Developed by noted speech-language pathologist Patti Hamaguchi, M.A., CCC-SLP who is also the author of books such as "Childhood Speech, Language & Listening Problems: What Every Parent Should Know", "A Metacognitive Treatment Approach to Treating Auditory Processing Disorders", several tests (RESCA-E, ELCI, TAPS4)

To find out more about this app and our other upcoming projects, go to: www.hamaguchiapps.com

Questions or need Tech Support? Email us at info@hamaguchiapps.com

## Key features

- 72 verb + noun phrase combinations
- Animated characters performing actions
- Record and playback speech
- Group setting for multiple users
- Data collection and reporting
- Visual support for learning

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: $15.99.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| In-app purchase | $0.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of First Phrases?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 👍 Engaging animations
- 👍 Effective for speech therapy
- 👍 Customizable settings
- 👍 Good for language development
- 👍 Interactive learning
- 👍 Motivates children
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 👍 Visual and auditory support
- 👍 Recording and playback feature
- 👍 Great for early learners
- 👍 Useful for autistic children
- 👍 Expands language skills
- 👍 Keeps kids attention
- 👍 Well-designed app
- 👍 Good for practicing sentences
- 👍 Helps with word order
- 👍 Encourages repetition

**Cons**

- 🐛 Buggy after updates
- 🐛 Screen share disconnects
- 💰 In-app purchases for characters
- 💰 Price considered high by some
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Settings not saving
- 🐛 Words do not flip

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Screen share disconnects during animations
- App crashes frequently
- Settings do not save
- Words do not flip to show phrases after update
- App not working after new iPad purchase (resolved)

**Most requested features**

- Store recordings for progress tracking
- Add more phrases
- Allow more student profiles
- Save multiple recordings
- Repeat targeted phrase with icons on all pages
- Data collection feature
- Add more verb-noun combinations
- Data tracker for student progress

## Recent user reviews (10 of 65)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-phrases/id473894018/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Love the new data collection feature!

*2025-02-24*

Just started playing this app with my preschool kids since the update and they love the new thumbs up animation when they say it correctly. Data collection and replaying missed questions is also welcome. Thanks for continually improving these treasured classic apps!

**Developer response:** Thanks so much for your kind review. We are glad you are enjoying the app! If you ever have any issues with it, please shoot us an email at info@hamaguchiapps.com

### 4/5 — Love this

*2020-10-24*

I bought this app for my granddaughter to help with her speech. She is very young. I wish the recordings could be stored some way, maybe at the end of a session. It would be nice to look back and see her progress, as well as have something sentimental to save. I am sure teachers could use that function as an evaluation tool to share with students and parents. Great app.

**Developer response:** Thank you for this very excellent suggestion. When we first made this app, it was not feasible because adding storage for audio recordings would make the memory requirements too large. However, when we reprogram it, we will see if there is a way we can do that, without eating up too much of your device's memory. Thanks for the suggestions!

### 3/5 — One of my favorites BUT needs bug fixes!

*2018-03-29*

As a speech therapist this is one of my favorite apps and I used it all the time with my face to face clients. I now solely do teletherapy and would love to use this app with so many of my clients. I use Zoom web platform and when I screen share my iPad, it starts out fine and then disconnects my screen share when the animation starts. This is so frustrating because I know I could get so much use out of the app, but with that glitch it makes it u unsable. Please fix so I can love this app again!

**Developer response:** Please contact our tech support directly to troubleshoot any glitches with any of our apps. Their contact is info@hamaguchiapps.com.

### 5/5 — Excellent

*2016-05-21*

Great range of items, good setting controls , and nice use of video and speech recording.  Adult guidance is a must.  Kids are very motivated and entertained while learning and practicing.
SLP

**Developer response:** Dear SPeechLP,
While it's been over a year since your review, Apple is now allowing developers to respond to reviews, so we wanted to say "Thank you!" for rating and reviewing it. We hope you are continuing to enjoy the app!

### 5/5 — Love it

*2015-10-22*

Excellent in the right therapist hands. Keeps kids attention while helping to expand language skills in a functional way.

**Developer response:** Dear Sweetpotatowado,
While it's been almost 18 months since you posted this, Apple is just now allowing developers to respond to reviews. We wanted to say thank you for taking the time to review our app and we are happy that you like it!  Thanks again.   Justin @ Hamaguchi Apps

### 5/5 — Using a Lot!

*2015-03-14*

I was able to use this with a variety of speech and language children right away.  It’s simplicity makes it easy to customize for each, to change the way I present it for each child’s unique needs and they are all motivated to imitate.  I get a lot of repetition from the students.  It is great for them to be able to hear themselves.  They do not always like or are confused by hearing there own speech in other circumstances that I have tried, but they seem to respond well to it in this program.  Well worth it.

**Developer response:** Dear Arch5,
While it's been over 2 years since you posted this, we developers now have the ability to respond to reviews. We just wanted to say "thank you!" for taking the time to review our app and for the thoughtful comments. We are so happy to hear that you are finding the app useful for the children on your caseload.

### 4/5 — Great

*2014-05-30*

I had problems with the app not working when I bought a new iPad. I'm so happy to have it working again. It's a great app for practicing structured sentences. Thank you.

**Developer response:** Dear Hippolulu,
It's been awhile since you posted this review but Apple is now allowing developers to respond, so we wanted to thank you very much for taking the time to rate and review it. We hope you are still enjoying the app!

### 5/5 — Best language app I have!

*2014-05-02*

This app is fantastic.  I use it with my 5 year old autistic son and his two year old brother.  The boys love the animation and are motivated to repeat the phrases.  We bought this app about a month ago and we've seen huge leaps in my 5 year old's expressive language.  This app has done more for his language in a month than his special ed preschool has done in a year.  I can't recommend it highly enough.

### 5/5 — Great app

*2013-10-26, version 1.6*

Always love apps from Hamaguchi! This one helps my students learn to focus and expand their language skills.

### 1/5 — Problem after yesterday's update

*2013-07-18, version 1.4*

This app is wonderful and WAS working perfectly until yesterday's update. Now after you press "start" to begin to record the phrase, while at the same time tapping the phrase to read and say it, the words in the boxes now DO NOT FLIP to show the phrase. I even deleted the app and reinstalled it to see if it would correct itself and it did not. I double checked all settings on my end and they are set correctly. This needs corrected as it is a key aspect to this app.

## Frequently asked questions about First Phrases

### What does First Phrases HD do?

First Phrases HD is an interactive app designed to help young children learn to combine words into two or three-word English phrases. It uses animated characters and audio modeling to teach vocabulary and sentence structure, making it beneficial for speech therapy and early language development.

### What are the key features of First Phrases HD?

The app offers 72 different verb + noun phrase combinations with over 450 animations. Key features include the ability to hear phrases, see animations, record the child's speech, and replay missed items. It also supports group settings and provides data collection for professional use.

### How much does First Phrases HD cost?

The app is free to download and use, but it includes in-app purchases. This model allows users to access the core functionality and potentially unlock additional content or features through purchases.

### What age group is First Phrases HD suitable for?

First Phrases HD is ideal for toddlers, preschoolers, and any child who is in the early stages of learning to combine words into phrases. It is particularly helpful for children with speech delays, autism spectrum disorders, and those benefiting from speech therapy.

### How can First Phrases HD be used in a learning setting?

The app can be used in various ways, from individual learning to professional speech therapy sessions. Adults can guide children through phrases, use the recording feature for practice, and utilize the scoring page for data collection. The group setting also allows for multiple children to engage simultaneously.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.1 — 2026-06-09

We added the ability to pause the animation by tapping on the screen.

### 2.0 — 2025-02-24

We have added a scoring and data collection feature, the ability to play missed items and a new more user-friendly custom verb format.  We have also re-coded this into Swift for a better, more consistent user experience.

### 1.9 — 2017-10-28

This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

iOS 11 Optimization, extended recording time

### 1.8 — 2015-08-27

Minor fixes

### 1.7 — 2014-02-11

Minor Fixes

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## More apps by Hamaguchi Learning & Development, LLC

- [First Phrases Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-phrases-lite/id460291615)
- [First Phrases Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-phrases-lite/id474142004)
- [First Phrases](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-phrases/id474146399)
- [Fun With Directions HD](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fun-with-directions-hd/id475972703)
- [Fun With Directions HD Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fun-with-directions-hd-lite/id478249055)

All apps by Hamaguchi Learning & Development, LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/460288922

## Related topics

[first phrases](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/first-phrases) · [first phrases lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/first-phrases-lite)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-27.*