Making a difference in the community for people with disabilities Speak for Yourself LLC was created by two speech-language pathologists who specialize in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). When a parent or professional puts the Speak for Yourself AAC app in a the hands of someone who struggles with communication, they have instant access to a vocabulary of nearly 5000 words with the capacity to hold over 14,000 words. Many individuals with complex communication needs (CCN) are underestimated in their intelligence and potential. Without communication, people aren’t able to tell you everything they know. They aren’t able to express their basic wants and needs, thoughts, fears, ideas, or opinions. The Speak for Yourself app provides a robust system that can start with one word. It gives people from toddlers to adults the ability to start where they are, but grow into full, grammatical language. It’s not only life-changing for the individual using it, but also for the people around that individual who get the privilege of knowing them better.
In addition, our company provides AAC consultative and direct therapy in the school, therapy, community, and home settings with people using AAC. We also provide online and in person training.

Inspiration behind Speak for Yourself Prior to creating Speak for Yourself, we were AAC evaluators. We would trial several devices with students to see which one they could use most effectively to meet their communication needs. The process was lengthy and expensive. For many students, insurance didn’t cover the device. The cost of the traditional devices are $10k-$20k, which was prohibitive and those students were left without a device. When the iPad was released, we saw an opportunity to provide a strong, clinically sound, affordable AAC option. Speak for Yourself gave parents an option to bypass gatekeepers who often decided whether or not a child received the chance to communicate. It also gave professionals the ability to use AAC in their classrooms and therapy rooms without waiting for a lengthy evaluation process.
When we created Speak for Yourself, there were minimal app options available and none of them provided the strong language foundation and motor planning consistency needed for independent communication. Even with the many AAC options available now, very few of them were created by speech-language pathologists.
The community was created around Speak for Yourself, but welcomes parents and professionals supporting any AAC option. Our users group on Facebook focuses on implementation discussions as well as technical programming questions. We continue to work daily with students, families, school teams, and professionals to implement and support the use of AAC.

Who can benefit from Speak for Yourself Individuals who are not able to express themselves effectively and sufficiently with verbal speech benefit from Speak for Yourself. Currently, it is only a available for individuals who can directly touch a screen. Speak for Yourself is used by children as young as 15 months who have tracheostomies, children with Apraxia, genetic syndromes, cerebral palsy and adults and children on the autism spectrum. Whether someone is completely unable to speak or have verbal speech with challenges related to word finding, anxiety, poor intelligibility, or fatigue, Speak for Yourself is able to provide support to increase communication effectiveness. It’s an option that allows people to be universally and clearly understood, whether they need AAC full or part time.

Our message It takes nothing from you to believe in another person. Language allows us to express our cognition. Without it, we miss the opportunity to know all of the potential within another person. When we presume competence and give someone access to comprehensive language, we give them a way to share themselves with the world. Communication is a basic human right. Start from the premise that even if individuals are not speaking, they have something to say. Our responsibility is to help them overcome whatever barriers they face. When we do that, that’s when we are able to change their world and give them the chance to choose their future.