The Methods Already Work. The Tools Don't.
The building blocks of Gentle Journeys aren't new ideas. Social stories, visual schedules, token boards and other supports have been around for decades.
TL;DR
The building blocks of Gentle Journeys aren't new ideas. Social stories, visual schedules, token boards and other supports have been around for decades. They're proven, evidence-based tools that therapists and educators have relied on because they work. Gentle Journeys doesn't replace them. It makes them personal enough, accessible enough, and engaging enough that children and young adults actually want to use them.
Clip Art at the Kitchen Table
About eight months ago, my son Carson was in his ABA session at our kitchen table. His therapist was running receptive labeling exercises with laminated cards. Clip art pictures on cardstock held together with velcro.
I spend my day job thinking about product and user experience. So watching a therapy session run on clip art and velcro was, let's say, professionally uncomfortable. At this time AI was becoming more accessible for more than just a chat interface, so I thought to myself - what if I could make this better myself?
The Methodology Isn't the Problem
I'm not building Gentle Journeys because I think social stories and visual schedules need to be replaced. I'm building it because they deserve better.
These are tried and true approaches. Carol Gray's social story framework has been helping children with autism prepare for new situations for over 30 years. Visual schedules help kids understand what's coming next and build the ability to move through multi-step tasks independently. Token boards make abstract behavioral concepts concrete and visible. None of this is novel. And that's the point.
When something works, you don't throw it out and start over. You ask why it's not working as well as it should be. And when you look at how these tools are actually being delivered to families and classrooms today, the answer is obvious. The tooling is stuck in the past.
The Test
Carson had never really taken to social stories. The traditional version with stick figures on laminated pages just didn't hold his attention. And honestly, why would it? He's 13. A stick figure isn't going to capture his interest.
So I ran my own experiment. I had never written a line of code in my life, but I figured that was a problem for future me. What if the stories were personal to him? His real world, real people, real situations. More depth than a template could ever offer.
That was my first prototype. AI-generated social stories, personalized to Carson. And while I'd be lying if I said he loves social stories today, something did change. He engaged more. He was interested in looking at the pictures. He paid attention differently.
That was enough. Not because it solved everything, but because it proved the point - personalization changes how kids engage with these tools. The method was the same. The delivery was different. And it mattered.
The Breakthrough
Of all the modalities, Carson always did best with visual schedules. Even the traditional laminated, velcro-strip versions. So that became my next test.
I built a digital visual schedule in Gentle Journeys, created a routine for making his lunch for school, and handed him the tablet.
Within the first few attempts, he was off and running. He picked it up faster than I picked up JavaScript, for what that's worth.
I could tell he knew it was him in the app. He could hear his mom's voice guiding him through each step, and he knew it was her. This was a different kind of paying attention. He wasn't going through the motions. He was smiling. Making his happy noises. Genuinely engaged all the way through the process of making his own lunch.
This is the video from that day.
Making his own lunch. Most people take that for granted. For Carson, that's independence.
Better Delivery, Not Better Science
That's what Gentle Journeys is. It's not a new methodology. It's not trying to be novel. It's taking what already works and making it resonate with the individual kid who needs it.
A child sees themselves in the content. They hear a voice they know and trust. The illustrations reflect their real environment and the real people in their life. That's not a feature list. That's the difference between a tool that gets tolerated and a tool that gets used.
And usage is everything. The best evidence-based approach in the world doesn't help if the kid won't engage with it.