Yes, ITA with ColinsMum. It's pretty difficult for a child to be entirely self-taught these days--as in, never exposed to any reading toys, reading programs or anything intended to semi-teach or enourage reading, although parents religiously following a Waldorf program may pull it off. (Many of the kids I know who did Waldorf did not know the alphabet at age 6. It's been interesting to watch their trajectories, as some have ended up transferring to publics. Some have done completely fine. A not insignificant number are now below grade level by conventional standards, although they listen to and comprehend books well above grade level. We'll see how it shakes out in the end.)
I did actually spend a bit of time trying to teach my DD to read at age 3, because she asked. However, we gave it up quickly because it wasn't clicking. If we had kept pursuing and it had worked, I woudl have said I taught her to read. I suppose maybe it helped and I just don't know it.
DS did not ask and learned without help, but he did watch Super Why--along with a bunch of other TV programs. I don't know. Maybe it helped. He was much more phonetic than DD.
I know people who sit down with BOB books every day and reward their kids when they are able to make it through each one, or who work through that Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading, or who do sight word cards or daily read-aloud sessions with the intent to instruct, using leveled books and working to move the child ahead. That's what I would call teaching reading. It IS a bit gray, though. But over here, DS was reading haltingly out of easy books and we were like "Cool!" and then a couple of months later he was reading fluently out of much harder books. We didn't do anything to help him in the meantime. That's pretty self-taught, IMO.
