If it helped him it means that he is not dyslexic. It means that he cannot learn to read with the idiotic "look-and-say" "whole-word" method. He is perfectly normal.
"look-and-say" "whole-word" method is more fit for Chinese or Egyptian ideograms. Western alphabet which is designed to be phonetic and is one of the reasons why Western culture is superior to the Far East.
"look-and-say" "whole-word" method is the MAIN reason why Johnny can't read.
We've always assumed him to be dyslexic, because he twists the words around so much...9K Unti for K9 Unit for example.
But it seemed miraculous how well he did after learning the Jr. Phonics Game with our son...I mean, it was really something! After just playing that little silly kids game, he had much less trouble!
And it was the Look and Say method that was mostly used when we were in grade school in the early 60s...you're right. My mother was a teacher and thought it was crap and she taught me phonics at home. I actually remember her being disdainful of it and sitting with me on the couch teaching me to read.
I think you're oversimplifying things. The "look and say" method has its advantages. It works for some people, and it doesn't work for others. For those it does work, it results in faster reading. In contrast, people who learn with phonics, develop a habit of sounding out words in their mind, which slows them down and is very difficult to break. I learned to read using phonics, and I had extreme difficulty when taking a speed reading class. My teacher said the vast majority who learned to read with phonics had the same problem, and few of us are ever able to catch up to "whole word" students in terms of reading speed.
I partcularly cursed the fact I was taught with phonics when I was in college; I went to a school with a "great books" program, where we had to read about a book a week. And not just any books; seriously heavy reading, like Plato's Republic and Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov. Some of my collegues who were taugh the "whole language" method finished their reading in about half the time, and had the same level of comprehension. And this was after I had taken a speed reading class!
Another problem with the phonics method is that English isn't a particularly phonetic language. The number of words whose spelling doesn't match the sound is staggering, which then makes spelling more difficult for children learn to read phonetically. In contrast, students who learn via the "look and say/whole word" method tend to memorize peculiar spellings much more quickly and easily.
The problem is that the "whole word" method doesn't work for everyone, but at one time schools implemented it as a as a one-size-fits-all method. Schools and parents should use whichever method works best for their kids.