Check out Special Words app https://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/special-words/id451723454?mt=8
It teaches reading through 4 matching games: Match Pictures, Match Words, Word to Picture and Picture to Word
from http://www.specialiapps.com/en_us/SpecialWords-guide-intro.html “The Durham iPad Project Evaluation, published in June 2012, demonstrated that Special Words is an effective resource to enhance communication, language and literacy skills, and that it has a positive impact on the development of expressive language, receptive language, word recognition, reading and listening skills.”
It comes preloaded with 96 words children use in their early vocab and you can modify this list and add your own words, pictures and audio.
The best feature is that you can easily use it to teach multiple languages through the profiles setting - I am using it for English, French, Spanish and Italian.
It was highly recommended to me by a Speech & Langauge therapist who is delivering a course for parents on using the ipad with children with special needs.
I hesitated as it is pricey (around €13) but I’m now thrilled that I got it. I like it because it requires participation, a little bit like the Preschool Prep game apps.