Blog Posts

Spencer Russell on Teaching Kids to Read

Helping children learn to read starts with access, guidance, and confidence. That’s where Spencer Russell and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) make an impact. In this Q&A, Spencer, founder of Toddlers CAN Read, shares how early reading struggles shaped his mission. He aims to help families with simple, effective literacy strategies. 

Drawing on his experience as a teacher and a parent, he shares practical tips to help caregivers build strong reading skills at home. Together, Spencer and RIF are expanding access to books and literacy resources–like on Literacy Central, using digital platforms like Skybrary to help every child become a confident reader.
 

  1. You've shared that you struggled with reading early on and remember what it felt like to fall behind. How has that personal experience shaped your mission and the way you connect with parents today?

This is personal for me. I remember what it feels like to sit in a classroom and know you're behind. You start to think it's a reflection of who you are, not just what you know. And that sticks with a kid. It stuck with me.

And it's not just my own experience I'm drawing on. I spent 6 years teaching kindergarten and first grade, much of that with kids who came in already behind, and I saw the same pattern from the other side of the desk. 

The kids who walked into kindergarten already knowing their letter sounds, already starting to blend, had a completely different experience from the kids who came in behind and spent the year trying to catch up.

So, when I work with parents now, I'm not coming at this from a place of theory. I'm thinking about that kid at the back of the room hoping the teacher doesn’t call on him to read. 

That's why I push so hard to make this easy for parents and to help them get quick wins. Because parents don't need more noise. They need a simple plan they can trust and a way to help their little one improve their reading skills as fast as possible.

 

  1. You've built a large following by sharing literacy strategies directly with parents on social media. What inspired you to shift from traditional education spaces to becoming a parent-facing content creator?

Honestly, I hate social media. And I'd been completely off it for two years before I started Toddlers Can Read. It wasn't a place I wanted to spend my time, and it definitely wasn't a place I imagined building anything.

What changed was my own son. I started teaching him letter sounds at 18 months, and by the time he was 2 he was sounding out words on his own. And the thing I want to be super, super clear about is that he wasn't born special. 

He wasn't hyperlexic. He wasn't gifted. He was a normal toddler (although exceedingly cute) whose daddy happened to know how to teach reading.

And that’s what stuck with me. If a “normal” toddler can do this with the right method, a lot of others can too. The bottleneck wasn't the kids. It was that their parents literally didn’t know how to support their children’s reading. So, I went where the parents were, even though it was the last place I wanted to be.

I will say this though: social media gave me a way to reach parents directly and at scale. Instead of helping 20 kids in a classroom, I could help thousands of families understand what actually works. And what I found is that parents are incredibly capable. They just haven't been given clear, practical guidance. Once they have that, they run with it.

 

  1. At Toddlers CAN Read, you emphasize that learning to read doesn't have to be overcomplicated. What are some of the biggest misconceptions you see about early literacy, and how do you work to simplify them for families?

Here’s three big ones:

First, that reading is about memorizing words. It isn't. Reading is about learning the sounds that letters make and blending those sounds together. A kid who memorizes "cat" knows one word. A kid who can blend /c/ /a/ /t/ can read cat, bat, sat, and countless other words built on the same pattern. 

The second is that reading is complicated. It's not. Sure, some sounds are trickier and some words break the rules. But the vast majority of words can be sounded out once a kid has a foundation in phonics and blending. 

The third is that there's a certain age when kids are "ready" to read, and that age is usually kindergarten. Which is totally arbitrary. Kindergarten isn’t the year your kid’s brain is finally ready to read; is just when most kids start doing it in school. The truth is, many kids can start much earlier, and often much easier, than people think. And starting earlier tends to give them a more positive relationship with reading as they grow.

 

  1. Your work empowers families to take an active role in teaching their children to read. What do you say to caregivers who feel unprepared or unsure about supporting literacy at home?

I tell them they have advantages nobody else has. Not even schools. Not even teachers.

You have the time to work one-on-one with your kid, even if it's just a few minutes a day. You can flex to what they need on a given afternoon. You can build their interests into the lessons. And nobody, anywhere, cares more about your kid's success than you do.

Here's the other piece. Nobody starts as a good teacher. Everybody is bad at it at first. I was. Every teacher I've ever known was. Once you accept that, it's actually freeing, because teaching stops being something you either are or aren't, and starts being a skill you grow over time. You're going to get better at it the same way your kid is going to get better at reading. Through reps.

So, you've got the relationship, the time, the flexibility, the care, and a skill you can sharpen as you go. That's a stronger starting position than most people give themselves credit for.

 

  1. Both your work and Reading Is Fundamental's mission focus on addressing the literacy crisis in meaningful ways. Where do you see the greatest opportunities for impact right now when it comes to reaching children who need support the most?

The biggest opportunity is getting effective instruction into families' hands earlier. We tend to wait until a kid is clearly struggling, and by then we're playing catch-up. If we move even a portion of that effort upstream, we change the trajectory.

There's also a huge opportunity in making resources more accessible. Not just available, but usable. Clear, simple, actionable. Especially for families who don't have extra time, money, or support to spare.

And then there's alignment between schools and families. Everybody talks about it, but it doesn't happen as often as it should, and I think the real reason is that schools don't trust parents enough to bring them in. 

Parents rarely get coached on what's happening in the classroom, what their kid is working on, or how to reinforce it at home in a few minutes a day. So, they're left guessing. When schools start treating parents as partners worth equipping, the alignment becomes real, and progress accelerates fast. That consistency matters more than almost anything else we talk about.

 

  1. Through your content, you're not just teaching reading skills, you're also shaping how families think about literacy. What do you hope caregivers ultimately take away from your work, and how do you hope it changes outcomes for children long term?

I want parents to walk away thinking, "I can do this." Not in a motivational-poster way. In a grounded, practical way, where they know exactly what to do next, they understand the sequence, and they've already seen it start working.

I also want to change the way they think about their role as a parent. Not just as a caretaker, but as a teacher–of reading, and everything else their kid is going to need to learn. One of the most common things parents tell me is how much teaching their kid to read built their confidence in themselves, not just in their kid. They start to realize that if they can teach this, they can teach a lot of other things too. That shift in identity is one of the most valuable things that comes out of this work.

At the end of the day, I’ve seen that when parents see themselves as their kid's teacher, they keep showing up that way long after the reading lessons end. And that shift compounds. It shows up in reading first, but it doesn't stay there. It shapes how a kid approaches learning as a whole, and it shapes how a family approaches it together.

 

  1. You've partnered with Reading Is Fundamental to support Skybrary, helping bring digital books and literacy resources to more families. What inspired you to collaborate with RIF, and why do you believe eBooks and platforms like Skybrary are important for supporting early reading at home?

I partnered with RIF because you’ve been doing this work at a high level for a long time. There's a shared goal of getting more kids access to the resources they need to become strong readers and doing it in a way that actually works for families.

Not every family has a big home library or easy access to physical books, and a digital library helps bridge that gap so reading can be a daily thing instead of a weekly one.

Also, one of the things I appreciate most about Skybrary is what it's not. It isn't built to be addictive. It isn't designed to hijack a kid's attention or keep them swiping. It's built to do one thing, which is put more books in front of more kids. That's rare in the world of children's apps, and it's a big part of why I felt good about partnering on it. 

I'm also excited to be bringing additional educational content for parents into the app, so families using Skybrary can get both the books and the guidance in the same place!

We’re grateful to Spencer Russell for sharing his insights and experiences with our community. His work continues to empower families with the tools and confidence they need to support early literacy at home—an approach that closely aligns with RIF’s mission to ensure every child has the opportunity to become a confident reader. To explore even more of Spencer’s guidance and access engaging digital books, sign in or download Skybrary today and check out his new videos designed to help you support your child’s reading journey every step of the way.