Russell realized that these principles that help older kids can be adapted much earlier than many parents are told.

He independently discovered what the great American linguist Leonard Bloomfield published in 1933 in his great linguistics textbook "Language."

In the 1950's, Rudolf Flesch's published "Why Johnny Can't Read," urging a return to teaching phonics because new whole word methods (e.g., the "Dick and Jane" readers) were failing children.

Sadly, many school systems continue to use outmoded ideas about teaching children to read, despite claims they use the science of reading.