Reading doesn't start with learning the alphabet. It starts with listening and learning how to distinguish the individual sounds of speech. Our students must learn to break sounds, and then parts of words, apart and then to learn how to put them back together again. This is called segmentation and blending. They need to identify the location of sounds within a word and substitute one sound for another.
Successful readers have a mental bank of words they can recognize instantaneously.
Flashcards and some computer programs can help build this word bank.