How refreshing to have more research showing the limits of ‘doing things the same way over and over again and expecting different results’.  Here is more support for opening our minds to stepping outside of ‘word thinking’ psyche so our ‘picture thinkers’ can flourish.  Two studies of readers ranging from the age of 6 to university age reveal several results. One study of Scottish and New Zealand children resulted in the recommendation that educators and policy makers look beyond any claimed short term advantages of a particular method when considering the merits of different approaches to reading.  The second study showed the same cognitive disadvantage occurs with syllable based reading systems involving subjects ranging from kindergarten to adults learning to read Japanese.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/5229922/Phonics-teaching-method-downplayed