Samuel Orton, co-creator of the Orton-Gillingham method

The whole word or “sight” method of teaching reading was introduced into U.S. schools in the 1920s. For the first time in history, a huge number of kids began having trouble learning how to read. A neuropsychiatrist named Samuel Orton noticed the connection between the lack of phonics instruction and children’s sudden struggles with reading. He wrote an article for the February 1929 issue of The Journal of Educational Psychology called, “The Sight Reading Method of Teaching Reading as a Source of Reading Disability.” (Click on the title to read the article in its entirety.)

“The sight method not only will not eradicate a reading disability,” Orton wrote, “but may actually produce a number of cases.” Orton’s article was ignored by the education establishment. He went on to co-create the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching reading. Today, that method is universally considered the gold standard for teaching struggling readers.