Grace App — Picture-Based Communication for Autism

Lisa Domican, a Wicklow-based parent of two children on the autism spectrum, co-created the Grace App with developer Steven Troughton-Smith in 2010. It digitised the paper Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) book her non-verbal daughter Grace had used since age eight, letting the child assemble picture sentences independently on an iPhone/iPad rather than depend on a caregiver holding physical cards.
The app won the United Nations World Summit Award-Mobile for e-Learning/education in 2010, judged against more than 400 nominations from other countries, and was covered by the Irish Times and Silicon Republic; Domican later received the David Manley Award for Best Social Entrepreneur (2012).
It has been downloaded more than 30,000 times across three versions, with translations into seven languages (including French, German and Spanish) and an Android release; the official site remains active with 2026 copyright, and Domican continues related advocacy work (2024 Good Governance Awards finalist).
Reach is modest next to venture-backed AAC apps, and no independent peer-reviewed outcome study of the Grace App's communication impact was found — evidence rests on award recognition, sustained availability and qualitative parent and clinician testimony rather than controlled evaluation.

Read the full analysis: http://www.graceapp.com/