My five year-old daughter likes to keep her abilities to herself. She pretty much taught herself to read about a year ago, but didn't let us know. If you asked her what something said, she would shrug, but if you gave her instructions that required reading silently, like "Click on 'check out'" at the library kiosk, she could do it easily.
Now the cat's out of the bag, but she's still reluctant to read aloud to her full ability. She will fluently read a word like "beautiful," then pretend to stumble over "the." As a result, we have no idea what her true reading level is.
Any ideas what could be causing this? It's not a lack of confidence, as it's very intentional. It's not stage fright, because this is one on one in her own home and she's treating it like a game. It's not lack of praise. In fact, praise actually shuts her down harder. It's almost as if how well she reads is her own private business that she simply doesn't care to share.
Any ideas how to persuade her to show us her best?