Evidence - Crack the Code

The Crack the Code program has been examined in a peer-reviewed research study published in the Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties.

The study investigated the impact of explicitly teaching phonemic segmentation using Crack the Code’s visual vowel hand sign system with at-risk Year 1 children. Participants completed the Crack the Code intervention and were assessed before and after the program on measures of phonemic segmentation, grapheme–phoneme correspondence knowledge, word reading accuracy, word reading efficiency and spelling.

The researchers reported statistically significant improvements across all measured areas following the intervention, with effect sizes ranging from moderate to large. These findings suggest that explicitly teaching phonemic segmentation using a visual vowel hand sign system may be an effective way to support early reading and spelling development for at-risk learners.

The study was conducted by researchers from La Trobe University and published in 2023 as a proof-of-concept investigation.

You can read the full peer-reviewed study here:

View the published article (DOI)

Note: This was a proof-of-concept study conducted with a specific participant group. Results relate to the context of the study and should be interpreted accordingly.