ANOVA Language

App · AAC word board

A free word board for people who communicate by tapping words instead of speaking. It's a web app for iPad and other tablets, and it works offline once it's installed.

Try the app Repo and setup guide

Who it's for

Families of nonspeaking or minimally speaking kids who want a board at home, including while they wait on an insurance-funded device.
Early readers and spellers who are ahead of their speech: there's a full keyboard with word prediction.
Speech therapists, teachers, and tinkerers who want an open, editable board with no account or subscription.

The generic starter board on an iPad: a message bar with speak, delete, and clear buttons, tabs for home, abc, and stories, and a grid of color-coded word buttons such as I, want, help, more, yes, and no. — The generic starter board.

How it works

Tap a word to hear it and add it to the message bar. Tap "speak" to say the whole message.
Buttons never move. Words are shown in levels (Starter, Middle, Full, or Custom), and a hidden word leaves an empty cell, so motor memory carries over as the board grows.
Colors follow word type (a modified Fitzgerald key).
Spelling keyboard (A to Z) with word prediction.
Read-along stories with pictures. Turning a page never speaks; tapping a word or "read" does.
Personal words, stories, photos, and recordings go in a pack that's imported on the device and stays there. Nothing is uploaded.

The spelling keyboard, A to Z, with word predictions above the keys — Keyboard with prediction

A read-along story page with a picture and tappable words — Story page

The settings screen for choosing which word level is shown — Word levels

Why it's free

Dedicated speech devices often cost several thousand dollars, and commercial iPad AAC apps cost a few hundred. This one runs on a tablet you may already have. It's a home option, not a replacement for an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist, and it's not a medical device.

How it's built

Plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No build step, frameworks, ads, analytics, or network calls. Installs as a home-screen web app and works offline. MIT license.

Version 1.2.8, started September 2026 and actively developed. Recent work: word levels, letter-name speech fixes for iOS, and pictures on story pages.

About the name

ANOVA is a nod to analysis of variance, the statistics term. Language learning varies a lot from person to person, and the board is built to adapt to that. The app itself doesn't do any statistics.

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