VIDEO: Invention for children with autism stemmed from Limerick father’s love

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

Rob Laffan’s touchscreen 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.