Ninja BuddyFor special education classrooms
Patient one-to-one play, for the students who need it most.
In a room where every student communicates differently, a partner who waits for one student's answer is hard to find. Ninja Buddy is designed to offer choices the way a speech therapist does, wait, and log every answer for the team. An adult stays in the room, close enough to hear the session and step in.
Built to fit how your team already works
Its methods come from special education and speech therapy, so it works with your students' plans, not against them.
Choices offered the partner-assisted scanning way
Buddy is told to open a choice with the scanning script an SLP may already use: "Listen. A joke. A story. A song. A sound game. Something else. Now choose. A joke?" Then one option per turn, in a fixed order, ending with "something else." Unlike a human partner, who pauses about two seconds, Buddy waits the full answer time after each option, and each silent option counts as a missed answer, so silence through the whole list ends the session.
Wait time and gentle cues you set
After a question Buddy pauses, says "Yes… or no?", pauses again, then reminds the student how to answer. Set the pause from 2 to 15 seconds, let it grow from 3 to 5 to 8 seconds (two weeks per step), or turn cues off. The answer time is 12 seconds by default (6 to 30). Cues are spoken only: no model or physical prompts.
Every access method, logged separately
Snaps, spoken words, Bluetooth switches and big on-screen YES and NO buttons all count, and each is logged as what it was, the way AAC teams document access methods.
Model, never demand
Buddy's rules say to use "yes" and "no" often in its own speech and never to ask a student to say a word. A spoken answer gets an extra celebration, but a snap moves the game on just the same, in line with AAC's "no prerequisites" principle.
Dignity in front of peers
Age-respectful celebration sounds, like a drum fill or a crowd roar, not preschool jingles. Buddy is told never to be babyish and never to mention a student's disability or what's hard for them.
Supervised by design
An adult starts every session and stays close enough to hear it and step in, because no AI follows its rules perfectly every time; it isn't for a student to use alone. Sessions end on their own (20 minutes by default, after five missed answers in a row, or after five quiet minutes). Hold-to-stop, skip and choose controls let an aide steer without talking over the student. We recommend Apple's Guided Access to keep the device in the app. See Buddy's rules.
Start from the IEP
Bring in the IEP your team already wrote
Documents you can try: an IEP, a speech or OT report, a 504 plan, or your own notes. The text is read on the device. When you tap Send, it's shared once with Anthropic's Claude API, which suggests what Buddy should know: interests, strengths, goals that fit a yes-or-no game (counting, colors, answering yes or no, following a one-step direction), how the student communicates, and what helps. Each suggestion shows the words it came from, and nothing is added until you approve it.
The AI is told to keep scores, service minutes, placement, medical history, behavior incidents, other students, and identifying details like last names and school names out of its suggestions. That shapes only what comes back. Send shares the document's full text (up to about 60 pages), including any names, birth dates, scores or medical details in it. To send less, paste only the parts about the student's interests, communication and what helps.
Import hasn't been tried on a real IEP yet. Before importing a student's documents, follow your school's or district's rules for sharing student information with outside services.
Data for the team
Answer data you can bring to progress monitoring
Every question a student is asked gets one row in the answer log.
- How the answer came: snap, spoken, switch or on-screen tap (each yes or no), voice try, unclear, or no answer
- Seconds from the end of the question to the first sign of an answer
- Whether it came before any cue or after one
- Weekly charts for the last eight weeks: share of answers said out loud, median time to answer, and answers before any cue
- A spreadsheet export (CSV), one row per question across every session, including Buddy's exact question. That text can include the student's name, so store the file like other student records.
Buddy's own words appear only as the question, so Buddy's modeling is never logged as an answer. But the app can't tell whose snap or short "yes" it hears, so nearby adults and classmates should stay quiet and hands-off while Buddy listens (the circle glows blue). Physically assisted answers aren't marked; note those on your own data sheet.
Every adult in the room
Teach a new aide or substitute a student's yes and no in about three minutes
Research on communication devices recommends training the people around a student. In one parent survey, the families with the most training used their child's device in the most places.
Teach someone a student's signals
Buddy coaches a new aide, para or sub through asking one yes-or-no question, waiting, and reading one snap or two. Then they try three on their own while the app checks only the adult's reading, never the student.
A card for the student's binder
The practice ends with a one-page "Talking with…" card to print and a 20-second audio version. It covers only the student's name, how they answer and how to ask (no interests, notes or history), so it can travel to PE, lunch or the bus without the device.
With peers
Turn-taking with a classmate
Pick a classmate who's playing along today and Buddy runs joke and riddle rounds for both. Buddy is told to let the student go first, have the partner wait and never answer for them, and never make it a contest. The partner's answers stay out of the student's answer log.
The classmate must be on the student's people list (by the name the student uses), and the pick lasts for the day. Their name and answers go to Anthropic's Claude API with the session, so check your school's rules first. While a classmate plays along, the student answers by snap, switch or on-screen button; spoken answers pause because the microphone can't tell two voices apart (unless snaps are turned off for that student).
Expert reviewers of an AI companion for autistic children recommended this kind of use: play with peers rather than one-on-one bonding with a machine.
Straight answers
What it can do in a classroom, and what's planned
Ninja Buddy hasn't launched yet. Its features are built and checked by automated tests, but most haven't been tried with children yet, so this site describes what each one is designed to do, not results.
In the current version
- One student per device. A second student would be called by the first student's name, and their answers would land in the first student's log.
- One student per session, plus one classmate who can play along. It isn't built for group lessons.
- Every game, the answer log and export, IEP import and staff training
- Switch interfaces that send keystrokes (see the switch question below), plus big on-screen YES and NO buttons
- English (US) only, on iPad or iPhone with iPadOS or iOS 17 or later
- Needs internet for Buddy's conversation, with a built-in joke book if it drops mid-session
Planned
- Profiles for several students on one device, each with their own signals, interests, voice and language, and quick switching between them. Planned for the classroom launch.
- Our promise: a full privacy policy before launch.
In a busy room
Talk longer than three words is ignored, but a nearby snap or short "yes" can count as the student's answer. In a noisy room, run Tune for today (a 90-second check of the room and the student's snaps and voice) where the student will play, turn spoken answers off, or use a switch or the on-screen buttons, which room noise can't trigger. Ninja Buddy hasn't been tried in a busy classroom yet, so start in a quieter corner.
Plans and prices
Classroom, Clinic and Site plans
Sold from this website by card, invoice or purchase order, and never through the App Store. Ninja Buddy hasn't launched yet, so get notified at launch and request a quote any time to plan your budget.
For teachers
Classroom
$299 a year, per educator
- Up to 12 child profiles
- Teacher dashboard
- CSV export
- Licenses run July 1 to June 30
For therapists
Clinic
$29 a month, per clinician
- Everything in Classroom
- Billed monthly, by card
For schools and districts
Site
Quote based on your classrooms
- Classroom for each of your educators
- One student-data privacy agreement for the whole site
- For example, about $1,200 a year for 5 classrooms
- Request a quote
Profiles for several students on one device are still being built, and every plan gets them when they ship. Families use the family plans. The student's notes, transcripts and answer log are never behind a paywall on any plan.
For your purchasing office
The paperwork schools and funders ask for
We're preparing this list for school and funder purchases. Ask for any item in your quote request, and tell us what's still missing for your district.
- A W-9 and a one-page quote, valid for 60 days
- Purchase orders and pay-by-invoice, with July 1 to June 30 license terms
- A signed Student Data Privacy Consortium agreement (NDPA v2), with California, New York and Texas addenda, a list of subprocessors (Anthropic for the AI, Apple for speech and voice), and a clause that no model is trained on student data
- Receipts that read "assistive technology software license," so ABLE and waiver reimbursements go through
- Vendor registration on ClassWallet and Odyssey, the state ESA marketplaces
- A letter template an SLP can attach to an IEP or waiver request
None of this is a claim that Ninja Buddy meets FERPA or COPPA, which we don't make today (see the question below). Check your district's rules for any app that handles student information.
Request a quote
Tell us what you need
We'll reply with a one-page quote. It's not an order, and it doesn't commit you to anything.
Please don't put any student's name or details in this form.
For speech-language pathologists
More practice between sessions, and data you can use
Ninja Buddy isn't therapy and doesn't replace you. It gives a student more practice answering between your sessions, with techniques you already know, and gives you data from that practice.
- The partner-assisted scanning, wait-time hierarchy, answer log (modality and latency, with CSV export) and partner training described above
- Sing and drum: play inspired by Auditory-Motor Mapping Training (studied in a 15-child randomized trial with minimally verbal autistic children), not the therapy itself. Buddy says a two-part word, the first part on a higher note and the second lower, with a drum hit on each, then it's the student's turn. Attempts are counted; words are never graded.
These techniques come from speech-therapy practice and studies of people using them. The time-delay, partner-training and play-together research was never done inside an app, and Ninja Buddy itself hasn't been studied. Treat its data as one source alongside your own. What the evidence does and doesn't say.
One planned feature, songs and stories that pause for a "more" signal, is waiting until the signal can be defined with a speech therapist. If you'd like to help shape it, we'd love to hear from you.
Questions from teachers and therapists
Which students is it for?
Students who can hear speech and answer yes or no in some way: snapping, speaking, pressing a switch or tapping a big button. It was designed for students who speak little or not at all, whose speech is hard to understand, or who are blind or have low vision, and to treat teenagers as teenagers. Nothing on screen has to be read, and two games adapt listening games used with blind students: Name That Sound (sound search) and rhythm echo (clap-back).
Does it fit with a student's AAC system and yes/no signals?
It hears snaps and spoken words and accepts switches and the on-screen buttons, but it can't see a head nod, eye gaze, a sign or an AAC selection, and we haven't tested answers spoken by a speech-generating device. If a student already has a reliable yes and no, talk with their team before adding snaps as a new signal; a switch or the on-screen buttons may fit better. Snap Lab can add the student's own words for yes and no, and if their plan describes signs or a device, import can pass that on as a note Buddy is told to follow. It doesn't replace the student's AAC system.
Can several students share one iPad?
Not yet; for now it's one student per device (see above). Profiles for several students on one device are planned for the classroom launch.
Does it work toward IEP goals?
It can give more practice with skills many IEPs include (answering yes or no, making choices, turn-taking, responding within a wait time), and its data can inform progress monitoring. It doesn't score whether an answer was correct, since most questions are choices with no right answer, and a classmate's turns show in the transcript, not the log. We don't claim it achieves IEP goals; that's your team's work.
What student information leaves the device?
Session notes, transcripts, settings and the answer log are stored on the device, with no cloud sync, ads or tracking. To run a session, each request to Anthropic's Claude API carries Buddy's instructions: the student's name, what you wrote about them, the needs you ticked, their people list (with roles and notes, including any classmate who plays along), song titles, the date and recent notes. It also carries the conversation so far, including short text of the student's answers, such as "answered yes with one snap" or the one to three words speech recognition heard. After a session of three or more turns, the full transcript is sent once so the AI can write short notes. Imported documents are sent only when you tap Send.
No audio is sent to the AI. Speech recognition runs on the device where supported; otherwise Apple's speech service may be used. Deleting something in the app removes the device's copy, not copies already sent to Anthropic or files you've shared. To clear a device for a new student, delete the app (there's no delete-all button); backups may keep a copy. See Safety & privacy for details, and check your district's policies before using any app with student information.
Is it compliant with FERPA or COPPA?
We don't claim FERPA or COPPA compliance today. We'll publish a full privacy policy before launch and will gladly answer your district's questions. Until then, don't rely on any app, including this one, without your district's review.
Do students need accounts or email addresses?
No. There are no student accounts or sign-ins.
Does it work with our switches?
It reads key presses from a switch interface that connects as a Bluetooth keyboard, as many do: Space, 1, Y or the right arrow mean yes; Return, 2, N or the left arrow mean no. So a student uses two switches, one for yes and one for no. Switch answers are off by default; turn them on in Settings after pairing. Ninja Buddy reads the keys itself rather than using iOS Switch Control, and we haven't tested it with physical switch hardware yet.