Why I built SnapThen.

The car, the house, and everything in between

If you're a parent of an autistic or non-verbal child, you'll probably know this one. Something as simple as getting my daughter out of the car and into the house could turn into an absolute nightmare very quickly. A ten-second job could become a long, stressful battle for both of us.

What a lot of people don't see is that it's not just the car. The most basic day-to-day things that other families take for granted, like shopping, going places, or just being at home and moving from one thing to the next, can become incredibly hard. There's very little let-up for parents, so anything that eases even part of it is very welcome.

What we tried first

We had laminated picture cards and an AAC device. Nothing really stuck at home. My daughter would look at the cards or the device and then dismiss or ignore them.

Out of the house it was even harder. Remembering to pack everything in the car, then finding the right card or menu in a tricky moment, like halfway round the supermarket, just wasn't realistic. Especially on your own.

The first time it worked: bedtime

I built the first version of SnapThen last year, just for us.

Bedtime was a battle. My daughter loves playing on her kids' tablet, and stopping it to get to the bathroom was very hard. So I made a two-step sequence: a photo of her tablet, then a photo of our bath. I recorded my voice on each: “Goodbye game”, then “Hello bath”.

I played it, and it was instant. She put the game down and we went to bathtime. It felt like a real communication breakthrough. Nothing we'd used before had that effect.

Goodbye guinea pigs, hello car

Another time, we were at a farm with guinea pigs, which she loves. The farm was closing and we had to leave, which is exactly the kind of moment that can go wrong fast.

I quickly took a photo of a guinea pig, copied an old board that already had a photo of our car, and changed it to the new story: “Goodbye guinea pigs”, then “Hello car”. It took seconds, standing right there, and we left without a battle.

1Goodbye guinea pigsA quick photo, taken right there.

2Hello carCopied from an old board.

Find the words that work for you both

Something I didn't expect: the words mattered as much as the pictures. We didn't initially get anywhere with “first this, then that”. But “goodbye” and “hello” were phrases she already knew, and they clicked straight away. Now she understands “first” and “then” as well.

Now and next, first and then, goodbye and hello: they're all ways of moving forward from one thing to the next. Finding what works for you and your child is the key, which is why SnapThen lets you record your own words in your own voice.

Why I kept it so simple

I wanted it to be as quick as possible, with nothing in the way. No cards to pack, no menus to dig through, no accounts or settings. Just my own photos, on the phone that's already in my hand, ready in seconds.

A board has two to five photos. You can add a word or record your own voice if it helps, and that's it. Your photos stay on your phone; there's no account and no cloud.

Where we are now

It was most useful when my daughter was around three to six. She can understand these things from words now, which is exactly how it should be: the pictures were there to bridge the gap while she needed them.

Every child is different, and SnapThen won't suit everyone. But if the hardest part of your day is getting from one thing to the next, I hope it helps you the way it helped us.

If you're in the thick of it

It's really hard to come to terms with having a child who needs so much more help than others. It took me a while to get to grips with it. I think you go through stages of grief, in a way: what you thought your life and your child's life would be like becomes a real struggle, and often you don't think you can cope.

Anything that helps any part of that can really help. I'm not saying SnapThen will work for everyone, but we'd tried so many other ways, and nothing had landed this well before.

The key is to keep trying. You're not on your own, and something will work out. Over time things do get easier, although you have to accept that your life has completely changed and will always be different, and that not many other people will understand what you're going through.

It's not about them. It's about you and your kids: getting past just surviving, and accepting things as they are, not how you thought they would be. That's all that really matters.

Find the fun, and find the laughter. It's all still there.

Mark
Founder of SnapThen