My ds also started reading at 2 as a whole language reader (I guess I'm assuming most self-taught kids probably are as the ability to process phonics (especially complex ones) is a higher developmental skill.
My two children learned to read quite differently. DD, who did not learn terribly early (late 4, very nearly 5) despite having quite a few sight words as a toddler, was much more of a sight reader. She was very apt to just kind of throw a guess out there, but also clearly remembered long words that she'd run across a few times. DS learned as a young 4 and was much, much more phonetic. I thought he might be much more slow and steady than DD was, and at first he seemed to be. But now he is a meticulous reader who sounds out with speed and accuracy. Inevitably I find myself saying, "Well, it would make perfect sense to say it that way, but..." (These days he is reading tons of weather books aloud to me. Lots of hard words.) Anyway, he is absolutely phonics-based and self-taught unless you count a bit of Starfall and Word World. Oh, we did have Leapfrog Fridge Magnets! He had a phase with those.
