My Own Pirate Radio

If you know anyone with autistic children, or teachers of autistic kids, tell them about TeachTown. They just launched their debut product, “TeachTown Basics”, an educational software service that helps autistic kids learn.

I’m writing this partly out of self-interest; I invested in the company, and want to see it succeed. Beyond that I truly believe this is one of those rare products that will radically change people’s lives for the better.

I got to see the product in action a few weeks ago, on a brief visit to Seattle. Sven Liden, the CEO and a good friend of mine, did a demo and showed me video testimonials from beta participants. The idea is that kids participate in short lessons which teach simple educational concepts, and are rewarded with a fun game when they answer correctly. The software dynamically calibrates itself to each student’s learning abilities and tracks progress data. Parents, teachers and therapists can all participate and monitor progress, and the content gets updated online over time with new lessons and games. The whole thing is bundled as an online subscription, and the design is based on research findings.

It’s good stuff. Congratulations to the team at TeachTown for a remarkable achievement.