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I learned to read in 1956 and following.

I reed gud.

The author here cannot possibly be correct: the Boomers learned to read better than before, imho, and better than our children have learned in a lot of ways.
Yes we DID learn our letters and sounds. Yes we DID sound out words. Yes we DID use Dick and Jane books. “Look! Look! Look! Run, Spot, run!

Now we have a bunch of kiddos who can’t read AND can’t spell.

From my experience as a Generation X'er: I became a Christian at 14 and started attending church (my parents didn't go to church). The Boomers who volunteered in my youth group IMHO did a bang up job encouraging us to read the Bible on our own. When we'd have questions about why the pastor taught this or that, and why our friends' pastors at other churches taught other things, the Boomers (then middle agers volunteering in our youth group) did a good job of knowing comprehensively what was in the Bible.

They'd answer our questions in a way like "See over here it says ...., and over there it says ...., so you can see how the two sides reach their positions. Now here's what I see all over the New Testament about that topic. And if you read the whole Bible too you can know who's misleading you and who isn't." A lot of us took them up on their advice. As teenagers we'd meet other Christian teenagers from other churches, often at school, and we'd discuss things we'd read for ourselves in the Bible and how it compares to was still being taught traditionally in our different churches.

End result? A lot of the denominations in my area (in Alabama) aren't so tangential in their denominational beliefs as they used to be. In part because a wave of us Bible reading younger Boomers and Gen X'ers are now leaders in the churches. And in part because the other leaders know that we'll call them out, even if politely, if they stray from Scripture.

That's the power of a culture that can read well and enjoys it, especially reading the Bible.

Now we have a bunch of kiddos who can’t read AND can’t spell.

,,, I loved the Cat in the Hat books. Kids in my day had to show their homework the next day and there was no TV until after dinner, in the "bedtime soon" margin. These days kids are dumped in front of TVs that condition their attitude to disrepect parents, teachers and any other form of authority. They may not be all that good at reading but they can yell and scream a lot better than my generation could if told what to do. It's not just reading, it's toxic attitude - not all kids, but too many.