AAC communication for students with speech needs. A language bridge for your ESL and ELL students. 65+ languages in a free, browser-based board builder. Build boards once and share them by QR or local sync across a class or district — on the tablets and Chromebooks you already own. From one SPED classroom to a district-wide ESL program, with no new hardware and no IT required.
Millions of students need AAC communication support. Millions more are English Language Learners navigating school in a language they're still learning. Most schools can't afford to solve either problem — let alone both.
Traditional AAC devices cost $5,000–$15,000 and take months to procure. ESL programs rely on worksheets and Google Translate. TinkySpeak solves both: a free, browser-based board builder with 65+ languages built in, running on the devices you already own and speaking offline once a board is open. Your SPED students get a communication tool. Your ELL students get a language bridge. Your newcomer families get a way to talk to teachers. One builder. Every classroom.
SETT (Zabala, 1995) is a team decision process for assistive technology in education — not a checkbox a product gets to claim. TinkySpeak is built to support SETT-based AT decisions, giving teams the Tools side of the Student–Environment–Tasks–Tools conversation.
SETT Framework reference: Zabala, J. (1995). The SETT Framework: Critical Areas to Address in Assistive Technology Consideration.
Print QR codes. Stick them anywhere in your building. When a student scans one, the right communication board loads instantly — no searching, no menus.
Traditional AAC requires navigating menus and categories to find the right board. QR codes eliminate that step entirely. The environment tells the device what board to load.
Serve ESL classrooms, multilingual districts, refugee populations, and international schools — all from the same device. Language switching is one tap. No internet required. All translation data lives on-device.
Students communicate in their native language while learning English. Teachers can push bilingual boards that display both languages simultaneously.
Students arriving with zero English proficiency can communicate basic needs from day one. No internet required — critical for under-resourced programs.
Parent communication boards in the family's home language. IEP meeting support. Progress reports that bridge the language gap between school and home.
Every feature was designed with teachers, SLPs, and students in mind — not tech departments.
Teacher taps "Push Board" — every student tablet switches instantly. Peer-to-peer over local WiFi. No internet connection, no cloud infrastructure, no IT department needed.
Lock the tablet to TinkySpeak only. Students can't exit to YouTube, games, or settings. PIN-protected configuration. The device does one thing — communicate.
Generate PDF progress reports formatted for SLPs, teachers, and IEP meetings — built from on-device usage on that tablet. Vocabulary growth trends, communication frequency, most-used categories, and usage patterns stay on the device and are shared only when you export the PDF.
SLP or teacher taps tiles that highlight without speaking — Aided Language Display modeling. The student sees which tile was selected without hearing the TTS output. Evidence-based practice built in.
Build custom communication boards from your browser. AI suggests relevant tiles, you approve and customize. Push to every student device in one sync. Try it now
Grammar engine with morphology support. Students build sentences with proper structure — subject, verb, object. Single-tile mode for quick communication. Progressive complexity as skills develop.
Every tile in TinkySpeak is color-coded using the Fitzgerald Key system — the same evidence-based framework used by speech-language pathologists worldwide since 1926.
The Fitzgerald Key assigns a consistent color to each word category — nouns, verbs, adjectives, social words, questions, and negation. This isn't decoration. It's a visual grammar system that teaches sentence structure through color patterns. When a child sees yellow + orange + blue + yellow, they're learning WHO + DO + DESCRIBE + WHAT — before they can read the words.
TinkySpeak is a free, browser-based board builder. There is no software to buy and no hardware to order — it runs on the tablets, Chromebooks, and computers your school already has.
The builder is free, forever — no per-seat licensing, no contracts, no hidden fees. For districts that need help getting started, we offer deployment support, partnerships, and grant assistance. Talk to our team about a district rollout.
TinkySpeak isn't just for students with IEPs. Communication tools belong everywhere — because every student benefits from having more ways to express themselves.
AAC tools provide multiple means of expression — a core UDL principle. Visual vocabulary supports diverse learners, not just those with speech differences.
Prebuilt emotion and needs boards give all students language for feelings. "I feel frustrated" is easier to tap than to say out loud — for any student.
Color-coded tiles teach vocabulary and sentence structure visually. ELL students and early readers build language skills through the Fitzgerald Key system.
When verbal students use AAC alongside nonverbal peers, it normalizes the tool. The kid who "talks fine" using TinkySpeak makes the kid who needs it feel less alone.
Our Board Builder is free, open, and ready to use right now. No hardware to order. No account. No catch. Build communication boards in your browser, share them by QR to any device, or print them — and start using them in your classroom today.
"TinkySpeak is here to help. Build your own boards. Share them by QR or print them. Start communicating today — on the devices you already own."
TinkySpeak was designed for scale from day one. No servers, no cloud, no new hardware, no IT overhead.
No cloud. No servers. No accounts. No new hardware. Runs in any browser on the devices you already own and speaks offline once a board is open. Your IT department doesn't need to be involved.
Update every device from a teacher tablet. Push boards, update content, configure settings — all by QR or over local WiFi. No internet connection needed.
Open a board in the browser and a student can start communicating in minutes. The deployment playbook covers everything a teacher needs to know — typically a 15-minute read.
The builder is free, forever. No license fees, no per-seat charges. Spin it up on another tablet or Chromebook the moment you need it — nothing to order, nothing to wait for.
We never collect or sell student data. Usage and progress analytics are computed and stored on-device — nothing is transmitted to us. Student information leaves the tablet only when a teacher exports or shares a report, and that share is encrypted device-to-device — nothing reaches our servers. There's no student record for us to hold — the privacy that FERPA and COPPA call for, built into the architecture, not bolted on as policy.
Serve diverse student populations from the same device. Language switching is one tap. No internet required for any language. All translation data is pre-installed.
We partner with schools and districts to run structured evaluations before full deployment. No pressure, no contracts during pilot.
30-minute call with our education team. Understand your classrooms, student needs, languages, scale, and timeline.
We configure devices to match your environment. Custom boards for your classrooms, language selection, kiosk settings, QR signage templates.
We share ready-to-use boards by QR or local sync onto the tablets and Chromebooks you already have. No new hardware, no setup required on your end.
30–90 day structured evaluation. We provide usage data templates, communication tracking forms, and educator feedback tools.
Based on pilot data, decide on scale. Additional classrooms? School-wide? District-wide? We support all paths forward.
The TinkySpeak builder is free for every school, forever. If a district still needs help getting started, support programs are available for qualifying schools and districts.
Hands-on rollout help for qualifying Title I schools and under-resourced districts — board setup, QR signage, and training, at no cost.
Dedicated partnership support for district-wide rollouts. Phased deployment planning and onboarding included.
Need funding for devices you don't yet have? We help districts pursue grants and corporate-responsibility sponsorships to close the gap.