Children begin learning to read using phonics usually around the age of 5 or 6 .

For teaching reading, she advocated using phonics along with the whole language method, or a system that chiefly exposes students to the sight of words.

"It's meaningless not to use phonics for children who need phonics," he said.

By the same token, it's meaningless to use phonics for children who are reading already.

Founded in 2002, the website teaches children how to read by using games and phonics.

It has gone from the whole-language intuitive approach to reading to a heavy emphasis on drills using phonics and repetition of simple words and sentences.

Nellie Dale was a teacher at Wimbledon who created her own basic reading program that used phonological awareness and phonics.

Shepherd offered a program that she had created, using phonics to teach reading and offering positive reinforcement to build students' self-esteem.

Sight words and high frequency words are associated with the whole language approach which usually uses embedded phonics.

"My view is that you cannot read an alphabetic language without using and learning phonics," Dr. Goodman said.