AAC for SEN schools: cross-platform, with no per-seat subscription trap

If you are a SENCo, an assistive technology lead, or part of an SLT service planning provision for the autumn term, you have probably had a version of this conversation. A child needs a robust communication system. The app everyone recommends is brilliant, and it only runs on one kind of device. Your fleet is not one kind of device. And the quote that comes back is priced per seat, every year, forever.

This post is written for procurement reality, not for an ideal world. We will be honest about what is settled at Sayella and what we are still finalising, because a school cannot plan a budget around a vague promise.

The mixed-fleet problem nobody designed for

Most SEN settings do not run a single device platform. You might have a cohort of managed iPads, a class set of Chromebooks, a few Android tablets that came through a charity grant, and staff laptops on Windows. A child does not stay in one room either. They move between class, the hall, the playground, home, and sometimes a respite placement.

The most clinically respected AAC apps were built for one platform. Proloquo2Go, LAMP Words for Life and Speak for Yourself are iOS only. Grid 3, the dominant AAC software in UK special education, is Windows-bound (with Android on some dedicated devices). TouchChat runs on iOS and Android. CoughDrop is genuinely cross-platform across web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and Chromebook, which proves the model works, though it is not UK-marketed and its interface feels dated.

The practical consequence is that platform choice quietly dictates clinical choice. A Chromebook school cannot easily adopt the iOS gold-standard app. An Android family cannot use what the SLT recommended. The child's communication system ends up shaped by hardware procurement decisions made for completely unrelated reasons.

Why cross-platform matters in a school specifically

Sayella runs from one account across iPhone, iPad, Android and the web. For a SEN setting that means:

• A board built by an SLT on a staff laptop appears on the child's device, whatever that device is.
• A child who uses a Chromebook in class and an iPad at home keeps the same vocabulary, the same layout, the same muscle memory.
• A device that breaks or gets reassigned does not erase a term's worth of customisation, because the board lives in the account, not on the hardware.

That last point matters more than it sounds. SLTs describe the experience of spending hours customising a vocabulary set and losing all of it when a device dies or an app is deleted. In a school with shared and rotating devices, that risk is constant.

The per-seat subscription trap

The loudest, most emotional issue in AAC over the last few years has been subscription. AssistiveWare's newer Proloquo app is subscription-only. Tobii Dynavox removed TD Snap's public one-off purchase in May 2024 and moved core speech, PODD, Gateway and Metacom to separate monthly subscriptions.

For families this is painful. For schools and funders it can be structurally unworkable. An assistive technology programme lead publicly noted that a subscription model "does not work" for managed (JAMF) school iPads, and that such programmes "often are unable to get subscriptions." State and insurance-style funders that pay for communication aids frequently cannot accept a recurring charge at all. A one-off purchase clears a budget line once. A per-seat annual subscription is a liability that grows every September as your cohort grows.

There is also a dignity question that procurement should not have to think about, but does. When core speech sits behind a lapsed subscription, the child can lose access to communication. That is not a position any school wants to be responsible for.

Where Sayella stands, honestly

Sayella's hard line is that there is always a one-off, lifetime way to own the app. The lifetime licence is £189 one-off. If an optional subscription ever lapses, the app degrades to local-only and never switches off a voice the user already had. Speech is never held hostage.

For individual and family pricing we publish exact numbers: free forever on one device with offline speech and no card; Monthly £7.99 or Yearly £59 for cloud sync, multi-device, team and therapist accounts, premium UK voices, AI symbol generation and analytics; Lifetime £189 one-off. VAT relief is available at checkout for eligible UK disabled individuals and charities.

We want to be straight with you: school and multi-user licensing details are still being finalised. The benchmark we are working toward is the floating or concurrent licence model (a licence released on shutdown and usable on another device), which is how Grid 3's Education Licence works and is the right shape for a class set. We are not going to publish a per-seat annual number that contradicts our own anti-subscription principle. If you are planning autumn provision, request trial accounts now and we will talk through options directly rather than point you at a price that is not yet settled.

Team, supervisor and therapist accounts

A communication system in a school is a team effort: the child, a teaching assistant, a class teacher, the SENCo, a visiting or in-house SLT, and parents at home. Tools that assume one device and one owner make that collaboration hard.

Sayella offers free supervisor and therapist accounts and a partner modelling mode. An SLT can build or adjust a board remotely and it syncs to the child's device. A teaching assistant can model language alongside the child. The people supporting one communicator can work from the same up-to-date vocabulary instead of three out-of-date copies on three different iPads.

Accessibility you can put in a tender

SEN procurement increasingly asks for accessibility evidence, and rightly so. Two things are worth asking every AAC vendor for.

First, access methods. Switch access, scanning and auditory scanning should be first-class, not bolted on. In Sayella they are built in from launch, alongside symbol-plus-text on every button and a Modified Fitzgerald colour key where colour is never the only signal.

Second, a published accessibility statement. Sayella publishes a WCAG accessibility conformance statement. None of the established AAC incumbents publish one. For a public-sector procurement that needs documented accessibility, a published statement is something concrete to point at rather than a claim to take on trust.

Your data stays yours

Lock-in is a real procurement risk. If a school invests staff time building vocabulary in one app, switching later can mean starting from scratch.

Sayella supports Open Board Format import and export at any time. A school already running boards in another OBF-compatible system can bring them in, and can take their work out again if they ever leave. Portability is a feature, not a favour, and it protects the public money spent on customisation.

A short procurement checklist

When you compare AAC options this term, these questions cut through marketing quickly:

• Does it run on every device platform in our fleet, including Chromebooks, from one account?
• Is there a non-subscription way to own it, and what happens to speech if a payment lapses?
• Can we export our boards in an open format and import existing ones?
• Are switch access, scanning and auditory scanning built in?
• Is there a published WCAG accessibility statement?
• Can SLTs and TAs have accounts to build and model collaboratively?

FAQ

Does Sayella work on Chromebooks? Yes. Sayella runs on the web as well as iPhone, iPad and Android, so a Chromebook fleet is supported from one account.

Is there a per-seat annual fee for schools? School and multi-user licensing details are being finalised, and we will not publish a number that conflicts with our one-off ownership principle. There is always a lifetime, non-subscription way to own Sayella (£189 one-off for an individual licence). Request trial accounts and we will discuss school options directly.

Can our SLT service build boards for children remotely? Yes. Free supervisor and therapist accounts let an SLT build and adjust boards that sync to the child's device, with a partner modelling mode for staff.

What happens to a child's vocabulary if we stop paying? Speech and any voice the user already had are never switched off. Without an active subscription the app degrades to local-only on a device rather than disabling communication.

Planning provision for the autumn term

Sayella is in a pre-launch, early-access phase ahead of a public launch in October, which is AAC Awareness Month. For SEN schools and SLT services that is good timing: you can get hands on now, shape what the school offering looks like, and be ready for the new term.

If you are responsible for AAC provision in a SEN setting, request SLT and school trial accounts. Tell us your fleet and your cohort, and we will be honest about what fits today and what is coming next.

Sayella. Every voice deserves to be heard.