Mayo teen creates barrier-breaking app

Dana Carney, a student from Mount Saint Michael Secondary School, received well-deserved acclaim for her innovative creation, the TalkTime app. 

Designed to assist parents navigating extensive Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) waiting lists, Dana's innovative project earned her top honours in the Junior Technology category during the TeenTurn Project Squad at a Scifest event held in The Digital Hub, Dublin. Among 160 girls showcasing 89 projects, Dana's outstanding achievement extended to claiming the prestigious title of overall Junior winner at the event.

Describing her app, Dana says “TalkTime, is an early intervention app for children aged 3-5 with speech-language difficulties. I came up with the idea after watching a younger relative of mine suffer with speech-language difficulties. In order to access public speech-language therapy, she and her guardians had to face extensive waiting lists. While awaiting intervention, her family noticed a huge drop in her self-confidence and ability to socialise. They all felt helpless, and didn’t know how to help their daughter. I created TalkTime for children and families like hers, to help parents of children with speech-language difficulties feel less frustrated and helpless, and to help children to make progress while awaiting treatment.” 

Dana worked on her app at Project Squad, TeenTurn’s after school programme which takes place in Mount Saint Michael every Thursday afternoon. TeenTurn is an Irish non-profit organisation that provides teen girls the opportunity to gain hands-on STEM experience and the support to acquire qualifications and jobs, with a particular emphasis on underserved communities. 

Speaking about the experience of working with TeenTurn Dana says “I honestly loved every minute of participating in TeenTurn this year. If I had to pick a favourite thing about it, I’d probably say all the new and interesting people you meet throughout your project. Be it other girls from Mount St. Michael, TeenTurn girls from all over Ireland with similar interests to mine, parents or speech-language therapists I interviewed, or mentors that helped me with my project, everyone was always so supportive and willing to share ideas or help with anything. Even with all the hard work, we always had great craic too!” 

Winning her first place prize contributed by CWIT, Connecting Women in Technology, Dana describes how she felt after finding out she had won not one but two prizes, 

"I suppose my first thought was that TalkTime has the potential to help so many children and their families all around Ireland and that I was really proud of that. It also proved to me that even if you are young and do not have much experience, you can still do great things and do your part in making the world a better place. Winning junior technology and overall awards was a surreal experience, and I am so grateful for all the opportunities and to all the people that helped me throughout my project.”