Learning to Read

My oldest boy is now almost 5 *gasp* and I certainly do not know where the time has gone.  He is a very bright little boy, I swear it's not just Momma speaking! I have had many people (including elementary educators) tell me he will certainly be in the Gifted & Talented program once he gets to school.  That being said, I have one teenie tiny issue...he is just like me!

I remember being in kindergarten and first grade and getting so totally frustrated if I couldn't make something work a certain way that I felt it should, or if an art project wasn't turning out perfectly I would often abandon it, and reading...oh reading was my Achilles heel!  I wanted so desperately to know how to read, but I couldn't and I wasn't getting it the way I was being instructed at the time.  I distinctly remember a time I was trying to read while sitting at the top of the stairs by my play room and getting so frustrated that I couldn't read a simple book that I had a fit and threw the book down the stairs.  I finally got the hang of it after a move and in the course of a year went from barely able to read "The dog sat" to reading Nancy Drew books.

I do think my little man is a bit a head of where I was at his age reading, but I see the frustration in him.  He wants to read but gives up in a fit when he doesn't know a word.  The worst part is I have no idea how to help him!  I remember the feelings but I don't think there was ever any relief other than from myself taking a step back and trying again.  I am trying to equip him with the problem solving skills to master reading without me interfering to much but it's not working.  He knows all his letters, capital and lower case, and he knows most of the sounds they make.  What I can't get him to do successfully is sound a word out.  He will say all the sounds the individual letters make and spell the word but he won't put the sounds together. I often think of giving in to the infomercials for "Your Baby Can Read" thinking they must be able to get him to read.  Then I remember it's just an infomercial which very rarely deliver the results they say it will.

So I ask you: What are your tips for encouraging reading? Did you or do you have a "intense" child like mine that you helped learn to read?  Should I continue repeating the steps he can take to figure it out on his own or just let him be and continue to just read to him?