A study<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/271817.stm ''C-a-t spells success in early literacy'']. 25 February 1999. BBC News. 10 May 2008</ref> conducted by the [[University of St Andrews]]' School of Psychology, involving 300 children divided into three groups receiving different methods of literacy education demonstrated:
+
*the synthetic phonics group were reading and spelling 7 months ahead of chronological age
+
*the synthetic phonics group were 7 months ahead in reading compared with the other two groups
+
*the synthetic phonics groups were 8 months and 9 months respectively ahead in spelling compared with the other two groups
+
*the synthetic phonics group had the best levels of rhyme and phoneme awareness