Constructor School’s Grafari (Orthograph) was developed in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The principles behind the software came from neuroscience and computer science. An essential part of the development process was rigorous user testing: how well did the software actually work? Did Grafari (Orthograph) really help improve spelling and reading?
First case study
The first study on Constructor School was published in 2007. Eighty children between the ages of nine and eleven took part in the study, led by neuropsychologists Prof. Dr. Lutz Jäncke and Prof. M. Meyer. The participants included both children with dyslexia and children without.
The study found that children with dyslexia made 33% fewer errors in spelling after three months of training with Grafari (Orthograph). The reduction in errors for children not using the software lay at just 6% for the same period. You can read the study in detail here: Study on the efficacy of Constructor School.
Second case study
Another user study was conducted by the University of Zurich. The study was done by the university’s Department of Computer Science and included 67 participants with and without dyslexia.
This study focused on whether practicing with Grafari (Orthograph) could help dyslexics improve their phonological understanding. The longer they used the software, the fewer errors the participants made when mapping sounds to letters. Further details of this study are available online: Second user study on Constructor School.
Conduct your own test
The studies above reflect the generally positive results of studies done on Constructor School at universities and in schools. Why not try the software for yourself?
Get a free trial version of Grafari (Orthograph). Be sure to let us know your results - we’d be happy to hear about your experience with the software!