Educator reveals why parents should prefer phonetics over sight words when teaching kids how to read

Typically, children learn to read between six and seven years old. However, Texas educator Spencer Russell successfully taught his son to read at 18 months using a straightforward method—focusing on sounds and word structure patterns instead of sight words, per Vox. 

Sight words focus on the visual recognition of words, whereas phonics teaches children through sound. This method uses "orthographic mapping" to embed words in a child's memory, enabling them to recognize words by their sound patterns instantly. Spencer, a former teacher and founder of Toddlers CAN Read, has quickly gone viral after posting videos encouraging parents to teach toddlers to read using a phonetic approach rather than sight words.

Spencer, who goes as @toddlerscanread on TikTok wrote in the caption of a popular video, “Stop having your child memorize sight words and instead focus on the phonics sounds (starting with the primary letter sounds). This way, they have the key to unlock any word vs. just a few on a sight word list!” He discouraged parents from using sight words to initiate their little ones into reading. Instead, he said that the sense of sound registers the memory of a word in the child’s mind, causing them to retrieve it whenever they hear a pattern of sound.

Parents liked his approach and gathered in the comment section to share their views on the hot debate of “sight words versus phonics”. @tjpnt said, “I agree. I totally went against the grain when teaching our boys. No sight words here! Teaching Phonics just made more sense to me!” “From someone who was reading at the age of two, this is exactly right! You have to learn a few sight words only, 99% phonics,” commented @sarinilla7.

According to Homeschooling4him, sight words are considered easier for children to learn because they provide meaning and context, but phonics is even better as it is based on the stronger prevailing sense of sound. In another TikTok video, Spencer also explained the science behind this. He said phonics is far better than teaching via alphabet songs. “They’ll need to know ABC order eventually but not before they need to learn the letter sounds themselves,” he explained in the caption.

The Washington Post reports that the Tennessee government has proposed legislation requiring all school districts to use phonics as the primary reading instruction method from kindergarten through third grade. More than 30 states and D.C. seem to be taking this approach, utilizing phonics instruction to educate toddlers. Carrying forward in the phonics approach, in an Instagram video, Spencer shares three steps for teaching a toddler to read. “Teach the letter sounds, not the names,” he outlines in the first step. The next two steps involve blending sounds with words, first all out loud and then in the written form.

You can follow Spencer Russell on TikTok and Instagram for more tips on teaching toddlers to read.