Building confidence with digital tools: the story of Therapy Box

Enabling socially conscious start-ups to thrive through connectivity. Using machine learning to transform the lives of children for the better. Driving powerful change for businesses and communities alike.

Sunday 28 April 2019

Building confidence with digital tools: the story of Therapy Box

Enabling socially conscious start-ups to thrive through connectivity. Using machine learning to transform the lives of children for the better. Driving powerful change for businesses and communities alike.

No individual or business better symbolises this vision than 2018 VOOM winner, Rebecca Bright MBE, founder of Therapy Box, which uses a proprietary machine learning platform, ATLAS, to screen children for developmental language disorders (DLDs) and support them in overcoming communications barriers.

That’s why we thought Rebecca was an ideal participant for our Federation of Small Business digitisation roundtable.

And sure enough, she offered compelling insights, crucial for any business trying to achieve big results from small digital changes. What were they?

Bringing a vision to life

Rebecca had a powerful vision – making a difference with technology and helping people live their lives and work towards their goals without restrictions.

But bringing that vision to life was difficult. As Rebecca admits, reaching the stage she’s got to – partnerships with Oxford University Press, award-winning assistive apps - simply wouldn’t have been possible without access to digital tools.

Whether it’s the software driving ATLAS, or employees using Slack for internal communication, Therapy Box relies on all sorts of tech to achieve all the incredible things they do. It’s no wonder she described them as the “bread and butter of her business”!

Connectivity really matters

Networks are everything. For example, ATLAS uses machine learning to screen children for signs of DLD, but for it to work, the connection must be fast and reliable, otherwise there’s a risk of treatment slowing down. That means extra cost and inconvenience for both children and parents.

Without the power of connectivity combined with the use of the right technology, Therapy Box wouldn’t have been able to open the doors it has and reached communities and investors that have allowed it to thrive.

The outcome: life-changing apps

ATLAS will save time for speech and language therapists and allow many more children to be screened. The team are now preparing it for further evaluation across 3 NHS sites to demonstrate evidence for effectiveness, before commercialising the product

If we took one lesson from Therapy Box’s story and the round table event, it would be this: start-ups need to constantly look at digitisation as the main way of delivering success in order to improve things for businesses and individuals alike.

Sunday 28 April 2019