San Carlos Mom Creates Alphabet App

 Nirupama Bala was sitting inside her San Carlos home watching her 5-year-old son struggle with writing the alphabet when the idea first came to her.

 “He had started kindergarten and learning the alphabet and he’s still following things I was doing when I was a child,” she said. “Nothing had changed in 35 to 40 years. The question was, can we do something interesting and sort of fun and help them learn?”

 That’s when Bala decided to create her very own iPad application that would help young children learn to write their letters. She started doodling in Mead notebooks, sketching out ideas and designs for what the app could help.

 With a master’s degree in biotech from Auburn University, a career in engineering, and a past of creating apps for Facebook, Bala was experienced enough to begin writing HTML code. She used a coding algorithm to illustrate a letter being written, and then asks the child to trace the letter. In just a few months, TraceRight was born.

Bala spent months tweaking the details, and when she was near finished, she brought the app to Ms. Polati’s class in Room 4 at Arundel. There, the kids were more than happy to help her test her new creation.

 “I went there and had kids play with the iPad.” Bala said. “They all wanted to play.”

 The app, which came out on Feb. 26, has been a success, topping the most downloaded educational app list and reaching more than 1,400 downloads.

Bala and her husband lived in San Mateo for years and moved to San Carlos in 2005. Their son, 5, attends kindergarten at Arundel Elementary and their daughter, 2, attends Edison Montessori. Ms. Bala asked that her children’s names not be used for this article.

The success of the app has led to Bala leaving her career as a Software Engineer to focus on creating educational apps full-time.

“It started off as a private venture,” Bala said. “But as I started playing with it I thought it was something I should do full-time.”

 When originally released, the app sold for 99 cents but downloads were low. Bali has since made the app free of charge and has seen downloads skyrocket.

“My initial idea was to release this and then start working on my next app. But since it has done well I am thinking what I can do to enhance this app,” Bala said. “I want to launch educational apps from K-5. That’s the idea for now. These apps should, kids should be able to enjoy it. That’s the primary goal, while learning as well.”

Now when Bala watches her son write his letters at home, she said she’s sees a big improvement thanks to the new app.

 “I can see him get better because of the app,” Bala said.  “I see him wanting to do it. He loves to play with the iPad. There are a wide-range of abilities children have. You can see that all of them try and they want to get it right. They want to try again.”