<p>D2 has always been a good student and through about 9th grade had no problem keeping straight As in all her courses including honors-level classes. However since sophomore year and beyond she has had more difficulty, and in the beginning we chalked it up to harder coursework and ECs that were taking up quite a bit of time. However, all her SAT and ACT scores are poor, especially in reading comprehension, and her AP reading and composition score was atrocious. We are wondering if there is an inherent reading problem causing her to not reach her full potential. </p>
<p>In that regard, do any of you have any experience with speed reading or reading comprehension improvement software that I am seeing advertised? I am specially looking at programs such as The Reader's Edge, Ace Reader Pro, RocketReader. </p>
<p>I had the exact same issue with my D. She worked with a tutor for a few months and it helped but she tends to overanalyze things when she is reading, often not seeing the “forest through the trees”. Her SAT scores were also not that great because she would run out of time trying to find the perfect answer. I hate to say it but some kids are just not great test takers, my D is a perfect example.</p>
<p>We discussed the options that could help, including speed reading, but it came down to her learning to improve her time management. We also had her reduce some of the insane amount of ec’s she was involved with. We were fortunate that she had a great English teacher last year that was able to get through to her. You might want to check if any of the classes are too difficult for her.</p>
<p>First determine if she’s a slow reader. Does she “silently pronounce” each word in her head as she reads? Have her check and see. Doing that really slows down reading. If she determines that she is doing that, have her use her finger to force eyes to quickly skim across sentences while just “absorbing” the words without the “silent pronunciation.”</p>
<p>Another tip…</p>
<p>Have her do some reading practice sections in an ACT and SAT practice book.</p>
<p>As she does each question…if she narrows the multiple choice answers to 2 or 3 and then guesses, have her mark that question.</p>
<p>Then, when she later checks the answer key, she need to not only look at the ones that she got wrong, but she also needs to look at the ones where she guessed right. She needs to know why that guessed answer was the right choice. Make sure she uses practice books that give explanations about why a particular answer is right (or is the best right answer).</p>
<p>Tell her to keep in mind that she may be picking a “right answer,” but it may not be the BEST right answer.</p>
<p>As for her composition score…do you mean her essay score? If so, does she know how to write a proper 3 or 5 paragraph essay? Such as…an essay with an opening paragraph with thesis statement, followed by paragraphs of supporting statements, and then a conclusion paragraph that restates her thesis? </p>
<p>Many schools do a very poor job at teaching kids how to write a proper essay. Some teachers assign few and don’t thoroughly grade them because doing so takes a lot of time.</p>
<p>Does your D think to include a historical or literary reference in her essays?</p>
<p>Also, it helps to have a few “go to” books to use as literary references. My boys swear that they could somehow include a reference to Animal Farm in nearly all of their essays. LOL Their essays received scores of 11s & 12s.</p>
<p>"First determine if she’s a slow reader. Does she “silently pronounce” each word in her head as she reads? Have her check and see. Doing that really slows down reading. If she determines that she is doing that, have her use her finger to force eyes to quickly skim across sentences while just “absorbing” the words without the “silent pronunciation.”</p>
<p>I have just spent the last ten minutes trying not to silently pronounce each word in my head and I don’t know if I can do it! I just end up “talking” faster, and if I move my eyes faster than my “voice” can keep up I have no idea what is being said. If I could increase my reading speed it would make life so much easier, it takes me days to finish some of my assignments.</p>
<p>I managed to make a big jump in CR (590 9th grade to 700 10th grade) by doing a few very simple things: first I did one CR passage and questions before bed every night for two or three months. For the questions I missed or guessed on, I read the answer explanations. I found my primary issue was that I would end up hypothesizing about my own opinions on the work instead of most simply looking for what is “explicitely stated or implied.” The MOST important thing that I learned was that CR is not supposed to be a guessing game, every single answer is right in the passage; that’s what makes it the easiest section. Additionally, skimming did not work at all for me. What seems to be a better use of my time is to read very slowly and carefully, that way I have a solid memory and understanding of the passage when I go into the questions. Thus, I can answer the questions really quickly.</p>
<p>When’s the last time your D had a full physical including eye exam? Fatigue could account for her difficulties, and if her eye muscles are trying to correct for even a small vision problem, poor thing.</p>
<p>How much does she read for pleasure? The people who score high on the SAT CR section tend to be ones who read lots of books outside of what is required by school. They read faster and know more words than non-readers.</p>
<p>I agree with mathmom. Additionally, those voracious readers have often read the books that are used for CR sections, so the selection is really easy for them to comprehend. Perhaps other students could suggest some great books.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the very helpful responses.<br>
BobbyCT, I think you have hit the nail on the head regarding what is most likely going on. D also tends to overanalyze when reading, and has a similar issue with not having time to finish the test.
I will certainly look into whether she “silently pronounces” as she reads. I never even thought to check! She did do several practice tests before ACTs, but it did not seem to help improve her score much. I am not sure how much analysis she did on her answers (right or wrong) though.
She had a vision test two years ago (yes, it is overdue) and wears contacts. We will make sure this is not an issue…thanks for the suggestion!</p>
<p>We did the Ace Reader Pro for speed and it worked wonders. It took a while to figure out and we found that there were only about 3 applications that my son would use. The best feature for us was the Expert mode. It allows you to download or copy any text and read it fast. We started with topics he loves like hockey and Ferraris - simply copied webpages. I had some trouble and via emails the head of the company helped me through it. But…it is like anything else (like my Rosetta Stone). It is only works if you use it.</p>
<p>The whole concept is teaching your eye to move faster while training your brain to read in phrases.</p>
<p>“he whole concept is teaching your eye to move faster while training your brain to read in phrases”</p>
<p>Can you accomplish that simply with practice, or is a strategy required?</p>
<p>I did some research on subvocalization the last half hour and a lot of what I was reading said that it was harmful to comprehension to try and eliminate subvocalization unless you are aiming to read over 900 wpm, which is far above the normal quick reader.</p>
<p>There is a book that accompanies the Real SATs by a different company called Testmasters…and they have much fuller explanations of why certain questions had certain answers…it is a small investment but takes the mystery out of trick questions…</p>
<p>my last comment is that although my sons worked on their test skills with more effort than many local kids, I don’t really believe they are so much smarter than kids with lesser scores…who didn’t have the testing knack…as we all know at midlife…achievement comes in many forms and I enjoyed seeing the accomplishments of many of the B students in my college at reunionns and being quite humbled by their prowess and zesty lives once life was more than “schoolin’” and other talents surfaced and mattered more. There are great universities in this country that do not rely on tip top test scores at entrance but still deliver rigorous educations…
so much grim news in the USA but our colleges are still pretty darn diverse and excellent</p>
<p>From what I read, the vast majority of people DO silently pronounce the words in their head and that is totally normal. It seems whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing (not like LD, like impeding any normal persons reading speed) seems to be controversial as far as I can tell. I am doing more research about it still, I find this fascinating.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the emphasis on speed, myself. I read (I think), with very good comprehension, but that’s because i’m thinking along with the author’s argument as I go along. Isn’t that where the comprehension comes from? How does looking at word groups faster facilitate understanding of complex concepts? </p>
<p>I have worked as a reading comprehension instructor (though not formally certified), and the last thing I’d teach is to read faster. Students need to read deeper, not faster. In other words, follow the argument. Faster might get you facts, but it won’t help you to infer better. I don’t know any way to do that except practice–read abstract, difficult (for one’s level) pieces regularly. Read not just for facts, but for argument. Speak in your head with the article. I can’t imagine useful reading that doesnt do that.</p>
<p>Here is what I meant. Moving your eyes faster allows/forces you to read in phrases versus word by word. This makes it more of a cohesive reading experience versus disjointed from reading one word at a time. Hopefully this would lead to better comprehension.</p>
<p>There are three main aspects of reading skills: decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Kids can be successful one area, but not in others. Often (but not alwaya), subvocalizing is done to “hear” the story, because 1)it helps to remember the story when you hear it or 2)the student never really learned to read silently (something most switch in 1st grade because it’s faster and their eyes more faster than their mouths). 3) processing timing is slower rate. (does it take a moment for her to get a joke?)</p>
<p>I teach reading to 1st and 2nd graders. Sometimes the student can read most of the words correctly, but doesn’t catch mistakes. Happened today: the kid was reading a story about George Washington and the book said “great leader”, but kid said, “great letter”. And moved on. When I asked him what qualities GW had, he could not recall that he was a good leader until we went back. He reread the line and then told me GW was a good leader in the army. Tomorrow, i know I have to spend more time with this youngster, making sure he uses strategies to help him know what he is reading. (slow down, paraphrase, summarize, question the author, etc.) and we’ll continue throughout the year. This is only a second grade reader, but these reading behaviors can continue, and it could be your daughter needs to use these same strategies too. it’s not speed so much as understanding that she may need to practice.</p>
<p>As another poster suggested (raider?) be sure when your daughter takes the tests, she looks at the answers to see what she got right and what she got wrong, and why.</p>
<p>You might want to consider having your student tested. It is very expensive - $2-$3k</p>
<p>Our daughter was a good student, and her academics came crashing in on her Freshman year in college. Fall semester Sophomore year, she took a lighter load, but still struggled with her reading, and told us she thought she was ADHD. The doctor almost put her on Adderall, but then we decided to have the in-depth PyschoEducational complete testing done.</p>
<p>Turns out she is NOT ADHD (so no drugs, thank heavens) but she does have a “SEVERE” (10%) Reading Comprehension and Decoding disability. We were shocked. This kid has always loved to read. She got a 3.5 gpa in high school. How did she get a decent score on her SATs? </p>
<p>Turns out she rarely read any book in high school, and studied via computer online resources and spark note type web sites. So, she found ways to compensate. She also always did well on homework, projects and papers, which protected her grades from poor test scores. In college, it caught up with her.</p>
<p>This is her first semester with the “disability”. She met with her school’s Disability services and will meet with teachers regarding some “accomodations”. She was very careful about selecting classes and professors, and is taking a light load. It may take her a bit longer to get through school, and she will take some of the harder classes in summer school, but we feel we have to be realistic about her abilities and what she can get through.</p>
<p>We also paid for several sessions with a counselor who is a college professor who taught her lots of study skills, and a toolbox of tricks, so to speak, to help her read and understand her textbooks better. She was very careful about choosing her classes this semester, and we will see how it goes.</p>