The Beginning
Origin
Early 2026
The idea
The founder of Speak realizes that every AAC app gives every child the same generic grid — regardless of diagnosis, age, or ability. And not one of them has a private way for a child to say I'm not safe without the person in the room knowing. Speak begins.
Build
March 15, 2026
First working build
Symbol grid, gTTS audio, pictogram symbols, and a working safety channel. First deploy to Netlify. The app functions.
Launch Day — March 17, 2026
Live
March 17, 2026
Speak v1.0 launches at speakaac.org
After a full build sprint: AI sentence builder powered by Claude Haiku, Supabase auth and cloud sync, Stripe payments, 17 onboarding diagnosis profiles, teacher dashboard, session history, kiosk mode, offline support, and a COPPA-compliant privacy policy. All deployed by one person in one day.
16 pages
3 paid tiers
17 diagnosis profiles
95 audio phrases
1 developer
Live
March 17, 2026
GoFundMe goes live
Community fundraising campaign launched to fund development, server costs, and the school access program — giving Speak to families and classrooms that can't afford it.
Live
March 17, 2026
Stripe payments activated
Family ($9.99/mo), Clinic ($29.99/mo), Institution ($49.99/mo), and Lifetime ($79.99 one-time) plans go live. The path to sustainability is open.
Live
March 17, 2026
@speakaac on Instagram & TikTok
Social presence established. Content coming — app demos, the safety channel story, and the mission behind it all.
March 18–19, 2026
Live
March 18, 2026
Major polish sprint — 10 new features shipped
Mobile hamburger nav on all pages. Loading screen. Toast notifications. Modal entrance animations. Scroll-triggered fade-in animations. 404 page. Social footer links (@speakaac). "A message from the creator" on mission page. User review prompt (fires on 5th session). Clinical guide and user guide pages. Mobile responsive layout for phones. iOS long-press fix.
16 pages live
14 git commits
1 developer
Outreach
March 19, 2026
First clinical demo — hospital social worker
Showed Speak to a hospital social worker. She liked it. Walked away with contact numbers for a local school and a care home. First real-world clinical connection made.
March 20, 2026
Live
March 20, 2026
GitHub repository goes public
Full development history pushed to
github.com/logansnell-a11y/speakaac. Every commit, every build sprint, documented in version control. Auto-deploy to Netlify connected — every push ships immediately.
19 commits
17 pages live
1 developer
Live
March 20, 2026
Pricing finalized across all tiers
Free forever, Family $9.99/mo, Clinic $29.99/mo, Institution $49.99/mo, and a $79.99 Lifetime plan. All Stripe checkout links wired and tested. Speak is a real product with real pricing.
Outreach
March 20, 2026
First research collaboration contact
Email sent to KU speech-language pathology faculty introducing Speak's safety channel and inviting collaboration on a NIDILRR Field-Initiated Projects application. First formal step toward an IRB-backed pilot study.
Compliance
March 28, 2026
Migrated to Mulberry Symbols (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Switched the symbol library from ARASAAC to Mulberry Symbols © Garry Pye (mulberrysymbols.org), licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0. Mulberry is fully open for commercial use — no permission required. All pictogram references updated across the app.
Live
March 20, 2026
Research collaboration page launched
speakaac.org/research.html — a public, cited research concept page for university partners, SLP faculty, and grant reviewers. Includes the full research proposal, supporting literature, and contact pathway for collaboration.
What's Coming
Pending
Soon
First visitor (not the founder)
The first person who finds Speak on their own — a parent, a therapist, an educator — and decides it's worth a look.
Pending
Soon
First paid subscriber
The moment Speak becomes a real business. A family pays $9.99 because this is worth it to them.
Pending
Soon
First school or clinic
A teacher, SLP, or administrator reaches out. Speak enters a real clinical or educational setting.
Pending
2026
NIDILRR grant application
Applying for $100k–$500k in federal research funding to formally study Speak's impact on nonverbal children's communication outcomes.
Pending
2026
iOS & Android app
Native app releases for full offline capability, push notifications for the safety channel, and App Store / Play Store distribution.