A HUSBAND-and-wife team invented a product which they say could transform literacy for a million children by 2025.

David and Emma Ralph’s product Mighty Writer is a large mat on which teachers and children stick words, symbols and punctuation marks to map out sentences.

It is already in 300 schools in 13 countries and its creators say it has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from teachers.

Emma said: “I’ve been a teacher since 1998 and have taught from primary age range right up to year seven.

“Writing has always been a sticking point for teachers. Their writing results are always generally lower than reading and maths.

“It’s hard to teach and there’s a lot for children to take on board. It’s very complex.

“As a teacher I thought, I’m sure there’s a simpler way of doing it where you just have everything in one place.”

The product was designed to be easily set up and mastered, so it didn’t add to a teacher’s workload.

It enables primary school pupils to articulate their ideas and build up increasingly complex sentences, rich with adjectives and adverbs.

David has a degree in manufacturing technology and went on to take a Masters in Business Administration at Bournemouth University. He was interested in ‘mind maps’ and how images could help children tell stories.

The couple, from Queens Park in Bournemouth, developed the product together over three years, testing it in schools across the south.

They were supported by FastGrowth Services, a Dorset consultancy which runs Vector mentoring sessions for expanding businesses. Several key suppliers are local. Intergage in Poole provides marketing, while HL Fulfilment of Three Legged Cross puts together the contents of the Mighty Writer packs and dispatches them.

Ninety-five per cent of the schools using the £440 product are in the UK, including Dorset primaries such as Stourfield , Lilliput, Corfe Castle, Hillside and Wool. One pupil at Stourfield loved it so much that she asked for one from Father Christmas – inspiring a video on the Mighty Writer website.

But the couple are planning a major launch in the US, working with support from the Department for Trade and Industry to access a potential market of 93,000 schools.

“There’s no reason why every child on the planet cannot benefit from Mighty Writer. This genuinely can transform every child’s literacy,” said David.

The couple have been busy promoting the product at education exhibitions, where they find people are impressed to see a tactile product among the digital apps.

“Teachers come up to me all the time and say ‘I wish we had thought of this’,” said David.

Emma said: “I feel quite privileged because we’re in a situation where we can make a difference and children are benefitting from it.”