Our brother, Robert, has autism and is mostly non-speaking (which means that he has a limited ability to use speech or language to communicate). After seeing Robert's struggle to communicate his need to use the toilet at school, we teamed up with our angels at BoCoup to develop and launch the first prototype of Robert’s App.
The first day I put Robert's App in front of my son he immediately started using it to tell us that, like any other kid, he wanted to play at bedtime. The next day, he told us he wanted “quiet” — which for him really meant space — so I was able to change his key phrase to “space” to better fit Robert’s understanding of language
Bob Tiedt
We realized there was a problem we needed to fix when the school-administered touchpad required him to construct the sentence “I want to go to the bathroom” by searching for each word, leading to delays. Despite requests, customization features weren't available, resulting in Robert being considered not toilet trained, not because he doesn't know how, but because he can't communicate his needs.
We built Robert's App to have these core features
Preset phrases: Start with preset phrases instead of building sentences from pictures.
Editable coping actions: Robert's care team and himself can edit and add coping actions immediately.
Needs met: Share when a need is met, not just when it is needed.
Voice assistance: Text-to-speech voicing of moods and coping actions.
Notifications: Receive push notifications and daily digest emails.
Privacy and consent: Privacy is core to Robert's App. Delete your data when you want to.
Our streamlined approach puts children like Robert at the center of their communication tool. Children and adults who are non-speaking or non-verbal now have the independence to ask for their needs and wants with ease, and be understood by their community like never before.
Unlike incumbent Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools, which limit the child's expressive communication to preset symbols, Robert App is fully customized by his care team to better reflect the child’s individuality and communication needs.
Beyond bettering Robert’s way of life by giving him a communication tool to ask for his unique needs, wants, and emotions, Robert’s App unites his teachers, specialists, parents, and caregivers to help Robert work towards his IEP (Individualized Education Plan) goals. With Robert’s App, we want students to move faster towards their goals and unite caregivers in helping students achieve these goals by tracking achievement progress through the platform. All of this creates independence for the user and lessens the cost of long-term caregiving. By giving Robert the power to more effectively communicate, he can become his own agent in assessing and completing these goals.
We'd love to hear from you – Robert's App is a startup, so we’re looking for investors, co-designers, advisors, and other mission-driven individuals who are excited about our approach to helping non-speaking children communicate. Please don't hesitate to get in touch by reaching us at teamrobertsapp@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Sydney Tiedt, Madison Tiedt, and Boaz Sender
Founders, Robert’s App