About Yak Back Foundation
Everybody deserves a voice. We build the words.
Yak Back Foundation is an Arizona 501(c)(3) nonprofit that makes communication tools reflect real life, so people who are nonverbal or speech-limited can talk about what they love, not just what they need.
We are a founder, a small board and a handful of contributors. Nearly everything we make comes from a family asking for it, and everything we make is given away.
Press play for the story in Rowan’s words.
Our why
Our daughter Ellie has used a speech device since she was four. It could say movie and popcorn. After a family trip to see Elemental it could not say a single character’s name, and at church, with her one-on-one teacher beside her, it had no words for what she was learning. She improvised with a classmate’s name, Faith. The gap was obvious: she had plenty to say and nothing on the device that sounded like her.
So her dad built one page about the movie Wish. The first time it loaded she screamed with joy, asked for the soundtrack, and told us who was singing and that he was the bad guy. She was right. She had been analyzing the story for a month with no way to say so.
Her sister Rowan gave the foundation its promise: a voice for everybody. Read the whole story.
Our mission
Yak Back Foundation empowers nonverbal and speech-limited individuals by developing Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools, supporting therapy services, and increasing public awareness around communication accessibility.
Our mission is to ensure that individuals with complex communication needs have the technology, resources and care they need to participate fully in their communities. Communication is a human right, not a therapy goal.
“He said ‘let’s come back to Legoland.’ He then chatted with me about Legoland for about six or seven minutes during our drive. Thank you for your amazing work! It makes all the difference in the world!”
Becky B., parent of a nonverbal AAC user, Arizona
What we do
Free AAC templates
Ready-made vocabulary pages for TouchChat and Proloquo2Go about movies, shows, games, sports, faith and holidays. Each one is built on the grid the child already knows, follows the Fitzgerald color key, uses the device’s own symbols wherever one exists, and puts a feelings page one tap from home. All free, forever.
Support for therapists and teachers
Speech-language pathologists, teachers and classroom aides use our templates in sessions and classrooms at no cost, and tell us what to build next. We are working toward funded training and materials that make AAC stick between sessions.
Advocacy and awareness
Stories, plain-language explainers and public speaking that change how people think about communication, including the film My Sister’s Voice, narrated by Rowan, and the annual Cardinals Climb.
How the work happens
A parent, teacher or therapist fills in the request form with the show, team or topic their child talks about and the vocabulary on the device. We research the words a child would actually use, draw or source the pictures, build the pages, test them on a real device, and publish the template to the library as a free download, with a note back to the family.
Most requests are for TouchChat on WordPower 60 and come back within days. Other WordPower grids are very doable. Proloquo2Go builds are more hands-on and take longer. Other AAC apps we are still learning as we grow, and a request is how we decide what to learn next.
Why it is free
The families who need these words most are already paying for the device, the therapy and the time. So the templates cost nothing, and donations pay for the building. $250 funds one template from research to a tested file in a family’s hands.
“I wouldn’t have been able to afford them each individually.”
Destiny J., parent of a five-year-old TouchChat user
Our board
Yak Back is governed by a three-person voting board and run day to day by its founder, with a strategic advisor and contributors who help with template building and creative work. Nobody is on payroll yet. Paying the people who do this work, and eventually the founder, is the plan as support grows.
Benjamin Wilkerson
Ellie’s dad. Twenty-one years in IT and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity, which is why a family problem turned into a production pipeline. Builds most of the templates himself.
Annie Wood
BSW with professional experience inside Arizona’s Division of Developmental Disabilities system. Keeps the foundation honest about what families and providers actually face.
Stephen J. Marshall, LCSW
MSW from Arizona State, BA in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire, and an Arizona BBHE-approved clinical supervisor.
The facts funders ask for
- Legal name: Yak Back, doing business as Yak Back Foundation
- Status: 501(c)(3) public charity, IRS determination letter dated June 25, 2025, exemption effective April 12, 2024
- EIN: 99-2161454
- Incorporated: Arizona. Mailing address 4047 W Amethyst Trl, San Tan Valley, AZ 85144
- Donations: tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law, through PayPal Giving Fund
- Policies: Privacy, Nondiscrimination, Accessibility
Get involved
Ask for a template. The request form is how the library grows and how we learn what families need. Request a template.
Give. $250 funds one template. Any amount keeps the library free. Donate.
Volunteer or partner. Therapists, teachers, designers and people who know an AAC app we do not yet: write to us.
Stay in touch
One email when a new template lands. Nothing else.
Email info@yakback.org · Instagram, YouTube and TikTok: @yakbackorg