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It sounds as if your son is excellent at decoding, which is very important.

One of my sons started reading extremely early, and was an avid read of non-fiction books. He was not really interested in reading fiction until very recently (almost 7 years old.) I know that he comprehended the non-fiction, because he would often explain it to me in detail, but we didn't spend much time with fiction books as he and his brother really preferred to be read non-fiction, and he almost never would choose to read fiction by himself. Verbally he has always been very much ahead, so vocabulary is not an issue for him.

This became an issue in Kindergarten, where the focus is on learning to decode, then on comprehension of fiction books. My son had a lot of trouble showing comprehension of fiction books/stories in Kindergarten, so I had quite a few conversations with the teacher and reading teacher regarding comprehension vs decoding. Once I found out what they wanted him to do, it wasn't an issue, but it took a while for ME to understand exactly what they wanted him to do (and they weren't telling him, so that was the problem.)

I can tell you what our school says regarding the steps they like to see in comprehension.

Once the children could decode the words well, they wanted to hear "retelling" of the entire story, using character names and details. And they truly mean retelling the entire story in detail, page by page.

Only after the children are able to retell the entire story easily and consistently do they move on to having them summarize the beginning, the middle, and the end. The next step is starting to discuss the setting, the characters, the plot, and the reason the author wrote the story. Once they can do that, they want them to be able to answer the questions in writing. This is the step my boys are currently on in 1st grade.

My twins' reading comprehension as measured by the school is mid-second grade, but our school won't really let anyone move more than a year ahead, so I am not sure what it would actually be if they were being taught the skills they need to move up in DRA levels more quickly. At home one reads middle school level and higher non-fiction, and the other reads probably at a 3rd-4th grade level.

I will say that both of my twins (almost 7) have just recently become more avid readers. One I find reading when he is supposed to be taking a bath, brushing his teeth, in the car, etc. He has finally found some fiction books that he likes to read, so now he mixes that in with the non-fiction. The other is starting to become more interested in reading on his own as well, but still prefers non-fiction. They both have to read at school every day, and then for homework, so there is quite a bit of "official" reading.


Edited to add - When we were trying to get them more interested in reading fiction, we tried very hard to find books they liked, and ended up reading books like "Captain Underpants." (But they were five- definitely not recommending this for a 3 year old.) The fiction books they would tolerate were definitely not literary in nature, but it was a good way to get them interested in fiction.