Will-Dog Reading

Last fall I started to teach William how to read using "Teach Your Child How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". He did really well with the program, and I was always impressed with how well he remembered the different sounds.
We finished the program in January. At the end of the program, there's still a lot of help your child needs to be reading proficiently. But for William, it was different. I felt as though he finished the program one day and the next was reading at a very high level. He was reading anything he could. Reading really opens the world to you for he was reading every sign that we saw and understood more of what was going on around him. Fortunately we own a lot of books (hey, I'm a homeschooler), but I was amazed at how quickly William was able to go from the more advanced "Bob Books" to other more difficult text. In fact I had checked out the "Bob Books" from the library and was impressed at how easy they were for him and that he read three or four for our reading time (at the same time I was a little disappointed for my plan was to have those books be used for a couple of weeks for our reading time).
For the last two years William has been taking "speech class" at the local elementary. I had noticed that he had a big vocabulary, but his pronunciation was not up to par. Reading has really helped his pronunciation for he has been able to see what sounds are in the words (rather than rely on Todd and I's pathetic speaking skills).
A couple of months ago his "speech teacher", speech pathologist Miss Karen, had William stay after class for an individualized assessment. His speech class this year consists of 4-5 other little boys his age, so he hasn't gotten a lot of one-on-one interaction with Miss Karen.
When William was done with his assessment, Miss Karen brought him to me. The first thing she said was, "I have got to know, what level is he reading at!" I know that he is reading well beyond his age, but I have no clue as to what level. She told of how she was performing the assessment and noticed William was reading along with the words. Thinking that he was just learning how to read she asked him if there were any words on the page that he recognized. To her surprise he read the entire page without any problems. She said that she was so excited for she has never worked with someone with such great reading skills, especially since children with speech delays/problems usually have difficulties with reading. She claimed that he was by far the best reader she has encountered. Since then she has spent some time each week trying to determine his reading level. Each week I come she says that he was more advanced than the level she was working on that day.
After much reading and consulting with the school's reading specialist, Miss Karen informed me that William is reading at a 2nd grade reading level. She said his ability to read is much higher and that he can read almost anything put in front of him (ya, like the scriptures) but his comprehension of what he is reading, based on the answers he gave after reading, puts him at a 2nd grade level.
This really was no surprise to me. My boy, who just turned 5 in January, is a phenomenal reader. The best is that during our family scripture reading, he insist on reading. It really is great to have 3 of our boys excited and volunteering (and fighting) to read the scriptures. Todd will only allow them to read two verses at a time, he claims it helps them wanting more and it seems to work.
But hearing William read these difficult scripture passages is amazing to me. There will be words that I am confident that he will not be able to read and I am shocked when he says them without any hesitation.
I will admit though, I never thought I would hear my 5-year-old cuss. Quoting Mosiah 21:3
      Now they durst not slay them, because of the ^aoath which their king had made unto Limhi; but  they would smite them on their ^bcheeks, and exercise authority over them; and began to put heavy ^cburdens upon their backs, and drive them as they would a dumb ass—

Ya, it was pretty hilarious to hear Will-dog come to the end of that passage and not hesitate at all. Or maybe I'm just immature.