A Family Story

Hi! My name is Sydney. The team at Robert's App built Robert's App for my brother, Robert, to better help him communicate his needs, wants, and emotions. Different from incumbent Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools, which limit the child's expressive communication to a series of preset symbols, Robert App can be fully customized by his care team to better reflect Robert’s individuality and communication needs.

“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

Robert's App was born out of Robert's struggle to communicate his need to use the toilet at school. 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.

So, 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.

Robert's home screen

Preview of Robert's home screen with a bathroom button at the top

Now, with Robert's App, "bathroom" is a key phrase on Robert's homepage empowering him to quickly request assistance when needed.

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

Founder, Robert’s App