That does sound like it might be dyslexia. Reversing letters is still normal at five, but the rhyming would give me pause. And the blending. My son could read some CVC words at three. We unschooled, so he wasn't getting (hardly) any reading instruction, and I wasn't at all worried -- just surprised -- when he wasn't doing more at 4, at 5, or at 6. By 7, he knew all of the sounds, but still wasn't reading. We did a little online curriculum (reading eggs), and he could do well on the exercises, but then could.not.read the passage.
When I really strongly began to suspect dyslexia, however, was when he was 8 and was reading. Because he would read James and the Giant Peach, but couldn't read easy single words accurately, like "parties." My mom sense just told me that was wrong. No one "believed" me, because he was reading, but the reading tutor I hired (who initially thought I was a PITA and/or crazy) eventually told me there was "something."
Sounds like your mom sense is going off here. Always a good idea to trust that. I second the recommendation of Lindamood Bell. I did that testing too. It is not a bad little battery for the $$. The one caveat is they may not be familiar with stealth dyslexia. They usually work with pretty impaired kids. My son tested 99% for comprehension, but 75% for speed and accuracy. They said that was an unusual profile, and I knew that was similar to what the Eides describe. I asked her if it could be dyslexia, and she said no, because all his skills were above grade level.
They did suggest some tutoring, because she could see some of his skills were weak, but she didn't push it, which I appreciated. So the LMB testing wasn't definitive for me, but it did give me some good information, which eventually supported my decision to pay for a full evaluation.
Btw, he eventually did do the tutoring at LMB, and I was really happy with it, so you can PM me if you get to that point.
