Teaching It Right, an educational software company based in South Jordan, specializes in helping children in the neurodivergent and neurotypical populations. The company, led by founder Andrea Johnson, provides affordable and time-efficient programs to help children learn social, emotional and behavioral skills by increasing self-esteem and cognitive abilities to help them succeed at home, school and in the community.
As a special education teacher, Andrea identified a gap in a student’s lack of confidence and struggling social skills. Thinking outside of the box, Andrea developed the educational platform We Are Friends. This research-based, parent/teacher-child interactive educational app was the solution to teach children how to improve social-emotional skills, sensory integration, and self-esteem in a 10-minute a day program.
Teaching It Right, founded in 2014, worked with the Utah Innovation Center team to secure a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2017. This initial seed funding helped the company develop a program to test, measure and quantify sensory integration and eye contract improvement for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. After a successful Phase I, Teaching It Right secured Phase II NSF funding to continue the development of the educational application for use in homes and schools with ease on a mobile platform.
“We are continuing to grow and expand to help children across America both in the classroom and at home,” said Andrea Johnson, company founder. “We have big goals beyond the program, beyond the children developmentally 4-8 years old, so we can reach all children at all ages, and will just keep growing from there and creating more curriculum to help more people.”
Learn more about Teaching It Right here.
The Utah Innovation Center video project spotlighting Utah small businesses is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.