VIDEO: Limerick dad proves that love is really the mother of all invention

A father has developed new channels of communication for his autistic daughter with an invention which may revolutionise one-to-one contact with people who have non-verbal disabilities.

Rob Laffan's touch screen device 'Tippy Talk' has brought new joy to his wife Emily and their four-year-old daughter Sadie - and in the process won him an Engineers Ireland innovation award.

Rob (38) of Old Cork Road, Limerick who has just completed a course in automation and control engineering at Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) is in talks with Enterprise Ireland to help develop and market Tippy Talk.