Educators
Individualized support for every student with autism, from every adult, every day.
Now enrolling schools and districts for 2027 pilots.
Safe, secure, and private
DESIGNED TO SUPPORT FERPA AND COPPA COMPLIANCE
Data Privacy Agreements (DPAs) available on request.
Support for your whole school team
Where Ama fits
Support across the school day.
In the classroom
Special education classrooms
Daily practice on each student’s IEP goals, one-on-one or in small groups.
Activities built from IEP goals and strategies
Works for individuals and small groups
Across the building
Inclusive and general education
Each student’s strategies go with them into gen ed, specials, and transitions.
Paras and teachers get the strategy for the moment
Practice for hard moments like transitions and assemblies
Beyond school
At home and in therapy
The same strategies go home, so families and providers support the student the same way.
Families see practice and progress
Works alongside therapy and outside providers
For K–12
Talk or type to interact
Access from any browser
How Ama works
From the IEP to practice, and back.
Here’s what Ama does through the school week, and how it reports back to your team.
See Ama in action
Try what students practice.
Tap through a short activity the way a student would. In practice, every activity is built from the goals and strategies your team sets.
What to notice
Read aloud
Stories can be read out loud, so early and non-readers can follow along.
Gentle feedback
Ama encourages and redirects, and never scolds.
Pictures for every step
Visual supports for each step, like the ones you use in class.
Then practice it
After the story, the student tries the skill in a short conversation with Ama.
Activity formats
Social narratives
Illustrated stories that walk through a routine or situation before it happens.
Conversations
Role-play with a character, like a classmate or a teacher, and practice what to say.
Guessing games
Playful games like 20 Questions that build turn-taking and thinking skills.
Scavenger hunts
Students find things in the world around them and talk about them with Ama.
More on the way
New formats are in the works and will show up as they’re ready.
Have an idea for a new activity?
Tell us what your students would love to practice next. We’ll let you know when it’s ready.
Continuity
Skills that carry from class to home.
Follow one goal through a week. It’s taught at school, practiced at home and in therapy, and starts showing up on its own, with every response recorded by setting.
Families and clinicians add what they see, not just what Ama sees
Prompted and independent responses stay separate
Each note shows who saw it, where, and when
Safe and private by design
Your team stays in charge.
Schools need to know what AI does with student information. Here’s how Ama is built to answer that.
Encrypted in transit and at rest
On-device processing (in development)
Built on industry best practices for data security
National Data Privacy Agreement in 15 states
Designed to support FERPA and COPPA compliance
Educators set the plan
Teachers and IEP teams choose the goals and strategies. When Ama suggests activities, your team reviews them before they’re used.
Conversations stay on track
If a student drifts off topic, Ama gently brings them back to the practice. It encourages and redirects, and never scolds.
Private from day one
Use initials or an alias for each student. Student data is never used to train models for other users.
Role-based access
Administrators, teachers, paras, and families each see only what their role needs.
Outcomes
What educators and families are seeing.
Early results from Ama’s pilots, and what people using it every day have to say.
Early pilot findings
In early pilots with students ages 3–17, we saw encouraging gains in:
Verbal communication
Reading fluency and comprehension
Knowledge in select learning areas
Enthusiasm for practicing with Ama
Preliminary findings that will be evaluated through additional research. Ama is built with researchers, parents, educators, and behavioral health professionals.
Research supported by
Through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program
“I love that it is so communicative and supportive for the team working to help a student learn!”
L
Laura
3rd Grade Teacher
“The built-in breaks are amazing. As a parent who’s tried it all, this is so motivating!”
J
Jeanette
Mom of Olive, 8
The R&D described here was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education, through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program award 2025-33610-45055 and contract 91990026C0028 to NarrateAR, Inc. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the USDA NIFA, IES, or the U.S. Department of Education.
Pilot program
Start with a pilot. Scale when it works.
We’re partnering with schools and districts for 2027. Each pilot is shaped around your team, and its length and scope can change as your needs do.
Our pilot partners include
STEP 1
Demo
A short call to learn about your students, staff, and what you need.
STEP 2
Kickoff
We agree on scope, timeline, and goals together.
STEP 3
Onboarding
A live workshop for your staff, plus a demo sandbox to practice in.
STEP 4
Check-ins
Regular check-ins with our team while students practice.
STEP 5
Review
Look at practice and progress together, then decide what’s next.
Paid plans start at $20 per student per month at early access pricing, with volume pricing for schools and districts. Includes access for your staff and each student’s family.
Questions from educators
About Ama
Guide every child toward a lifetime of independence.
That’s our mission. Here’s why we’re building Ama, the people behind it, and the professionals helping shape it.
Ama was created in Ames, Iowa, by Drs. Karri Haen Whitmer and Christopher Whitmer — parents who have seen firsthand how meaningful, consistent support can help their son, Ethan, thrive. Their family’s experience revealed a common challenge: skills practiced in therapy or school do not always carry naturally into everyday life, and important insights can become disconnected across families, educators, and providers.
Drawing on Karri’s work in neurobiology, accessibility, assistive technology, and inclusive education, and Christopher’s background as an aerospace engineer and EdTech entrepreneur, they built Ama to help close that gap. Their shared belief is simple: every child has extraordinary potential when families and care teams have the right tools to understand, support, and grow with them.
Built with the educators who use it
Ama is being created with input from special educators, Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), researchers, advocates, and parents, so what students practice with Ama lines up with the strategies in their IEP.
Meet the team
The people building Ama, from our home base in Iowa.
Our funders and supporters
Ama’s research and development is backed by federal grants, the State of Iowa, and education and autism accelerators.
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Iowa Economic Development Authority
NewSchools Venture Fund
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