I have found that children are individuals, each having their own learning style and pace of learning. There is no one way, therefore, to teach reading to all children.
Many strategies should be tried, and if you find one that works, use it. If not, try something else.
Try teaching classrooms full of eleventh and twelfth graders who where taught using sight and whole word methods. They can’t read. It’s that simple, and extremely sad and frustrating.