Why I Built Calm Tales: A Father's Journey from 2-Hour Bedtime Battles to Peaceful Nights
After years of exhausting bedtime struggles with my autistic son, I discovered that embracing his echolalia—not fighting it—was the key to peaceful nights. Here's how that realization became an app.
Our oldest son Whitt has autism and experiences echolalia—he repeats words constantly. "Canes." "Chick-fil-A." "IHOP." Over and over, probably 1,000+ times a day.
For years, bedtimes were a battle. Two to three hours of escalating frustration and exhaustion every single night for me and my wife Lauren. We tried everything. Nothing worked.
The Breakthrough I Almost Missed
With some unexpected time on my hands, I dove deep into research on echolalia and therapeutic storytelling. What I discovered changed everything.
I'd been doing it all wrong.
I had been fighting Whitt's repetition, trying to redirect it, quiet it, push past it to get to sleep. But echolalia isn't noise—it's communication. Those repeated words aren't random. They're meaningful to him.
A Different Approach
I started creating bedtime stories that incorporated his favorite words naturally. Stories where "Chick-fil-A" wasn't an interruption to manage, but a character, a place, a meaningful part of the narrative.
Instead of competing with his echolalia, the stories embraced it. They made his repetitive phrases part of the magic.
It worked.
Two-hour battles became 30-minute routines that Lauren and I actually look forward to. Bedtime transformed from the hardest part of our day into a moment of genuine connection.
From Our Family to Yours
When something changes your family like that, you have to share it.
So I built Calm Tales—an app that generates personalized therapeutic bedtime stories for children. It works great for all kids, but it's designed specifically for autistic children. Each story weaves in your child's interests and repetitive phrases, treating them as the meaningful communication they are.
Building this meant stepping away from my previous role at Resultant. That was hard. But it gave me the space to build something that matters more than any project I've ever worked on.
What Makes Calm Tales Different
Most bedtime apps treat all children the same. Calm Tales was built by a parent who understands that autistic children have unique needs:
- Stories incorporate echolalia naturally — your child's repeated words become meaningful story elements
- Personalized to their interests — whether it's dinosaurs, trains, or Chick-fil-A
- Therapeutic techniques built in — informed by research on calming strategies for neurodivergent children
- No fighting, no redirecting — we work with your child's brain, not against it
Try It With Your Family
If bedtime is a struggle in your house—or you know a family who's exhausted from the nightly battle—I'd love for you to try Calm Tales.
Download on the App Store and start your free 7-day trial. No charge if you cancel before it ends.
We love our son very much. And we're honored to share what we've learned with families who could use the help.
— Will Grey, Founder of Calm Tales