Getting started
From nothing to a first spoken message in about ten minutes.
What Model Communicator is
Model Communicator (MoCo for short) is a free AAC app. AAC stands for augmentative and alternative communication: tools that let a person who cannot rely on speech say what they want to say. The person taps picture tiles, the words collect in a message bar, and the app speaks them aloud.
Two ideas shape the app:
- Core words come first. A small set of words such as I, want, go, more, stop, help, not, it makes up most of what anyone says in a day. They sit on the Home board, always in the same place.
- Topics are one tap away. Food, people, school subjects, feelings and hundreds of other topic pages hold the specific words, each one with matching Actions and Describe pages.
It is free: no subscription, no in-app purchases and no ads.
Choose your device
| You have… | Use… | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| An iPad | The iPad app | Best experience. Fully offline, no account. Adds photo tiles, recorded sounds, profiles, backup and printing. |
| A Chromebook | The web app, with the Chrome extension | One click opens the app full screen. |
| A Windows or Mac computer | The web app | Handy for SLPs preparing sessions and for building materials in Studio. |
| An Android tablet or phone | The web app in Chrome | Add it to the home screen. See Install and offline use. |
Tip: Whatever you choose, the communicator needs the device all day: at meals, in the car, on the playground. A device that lives in a backpack cannot be anyone's voice. A sturdy case with a handle or strap is worth the money.
Say a first message
- Open the app. You will see the Home board: six rows of ten color-coded tiles.
- Tap I, then want, then more. Each word is spoken as you tap and appears in the message bar at the top.
- Tap the Speak button at the left end of the message bar to say the whole sentence.
- Tap Clear (the ✕) to start again.
- Now go exploring. Tap Food+Drink on the bottom row, pick something, then use the Home button to come back.
That is the whole idea. Everything else is detail: the iPad basics and web app basics guides walk through every button.
Five-minute setup
Settings are behind the gear button. Press and hold it for two seconds to open Settings. A quick tap only shows a reminder, so the communicator does not change things by accident.
- Pick a voice together with the communicator if you can. Both versions include MoCo Child, a natural child voice, as well as your device's own voices. iPad steps · web steps
- Adjust the speed if the voice is too fast to follow.
- Turn the volume up. A voice that cannot be heard across the room gets ignored.
- Accidental touches? Both versions can ignore very short or repeated touches. iPad · web
What to do in the first week
The most common mistake is handing over the device and waiting for the child to use it. Children learn to talk by hearing speech for a year or more before saying a word. AAC works the same way. The communicator needs to see the device being used before they will use it themselves.
- Keep it within reach, always on. Communication happens everywhere, not only during practice time.
- Model. When you talk to the communicator, tap one or two of your key words on their device as you say them. This is the single most effective thing you can do. Our modeling guide shows exactly how.
- Do not test. Avoid "Show me apple" or "Say it on your talker first." Nobody likes being quizzed, and it teaches that the device is work.
- Respond to everything. If they tap more, give more. If they tap something random, treat it as meaningful: "Dog? I don't see a dog. Are you thinking about Buster?" Exploring (sometimes called babbling) is how they learn where words live.
- Be patient. Wait ten full seconds after you ask something. It feels long. It is the right amount.
For SLPs: Working with a family? Send them this page along with the modeling guide. Both are written for parents. The SLP guide covers trials, vocabulary planning and caregiver coaching.