My DD5 started out by knowing her ABC's by 12 months. We had a game we would play when it was bath time, I had sponge letters I would throw in the tub with her, she would ask "what this?" I started telling her the letters and to my amazement she was learning them, I could ask her to pick up any letter and she knew which one, so she knew them before she could say them.
(by the way I tried this with DD4 and she just chewed on them)
She was at the kitchen table one day and just mattter of fact like said "Mommy", Mommy begins with the letter "M" mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. She was 18 months. Shortly after that she started reading street signs, not just stop,right turn only, but the street names, this is also when she became a back-seat driver.Mommy are you going 45? Are we suppose to turn on Main St. we just past it. LOL
Before age two I used flash cards (OK shot me and didn't know your not suppose to use these) it took her about 2 times going through 320 words to learn them. Mainly because she had no problem sounding them out and once you told her what a word was, she doesn't forget.
At 2 1/2 I put a book in front of her and she read it. I told one of my sister in laws this and she said "oh they memorized at this age" My reply "65 pages?"
By 3 I could play board games with her (Sorry, Monopoly the pet shop version, and the allowance game) she could read what she needed to do add up her own dice ect...
Today she is 5 and can read pretty much anything as far as I can tell. She reads alot for pleasure (loves the princess stories) little princess is one of her favorites, she's read it twice:)
Anyway to answer the question I would say it was somewhere between 18 months to 2 years that I would consider her a reader. Because she could sound out the words and could do this with words she had not seen before.
My DD4 started reading sight word books at 3 1/2 but I still don't consider her a reader because she doesn't know the phonics yet, she's just starting to understand it, so I'm sure it will come when she's ready.
