Some of the words my son decoded without any hesitation from newspaper comic strips like Family Circus, Marmaduke and Dennis at age 3 1/2 were especially, impossible, breakfast, and country--words that I didn't think would be easy to figure out with someone just saying the letters, but he had read all of those words before except for especially. I don't think he had read that word anywhere before. I think my son might have sometimes used context clues to help him figure out some of the words when I spelled out all the words from comic strips or paragraphs from books. He was remembering and understanding all the words he had already decoded.
At 4 1/2 he could read his Alice in Wonderland script for acting class and there were some hard words in it--I think it was about 5th grade level. I think the ability to read the script helped him memorize his lines. He would also follow along with his finger underneath the words when other kids read their lines. Once an older kid lost his place while reading the Babes in Arms script and my son said and pointed out the next word for him. That script was not written for children and it was challenging for some of the kids in the group, even kids several years older, yet once the director saw he could read, she expected him to read right along with the older kids. By reading higher level material he developed a very good vocabulary and spelling ability since he did remember how most words were spelled, especially if they were really hard words.
