<p>Ds received a brochure in the mail today about a university course in speed reading. Guess they saw his CR score on the PSAT :)</p>
<p>Anyone done one? Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I did a search on this topic, and it seems that when asked over at the SAT/ACT forum, there's not much response, so I thought I'd try here.</p>
<p>Looks like marketing to me. Does he think he needs a class like this?</p>
<p>S speed reads. How he does it is a mystery to us. His grade school teachers were aghast at his speed and comprehension. Keyed the school to do some testing on him and later tagged him for advancement. </p>
<p>The cost may be minor as compared to the benefit. If he gains then the money is worthwhile. If you does not gain, then it is money lost, but certainly not money mis-spent. Likewise a course in Dale Carnegie is money well considered.</p>
<p>When I mentioned it, he seemed neutral, as he is about most things. But he does believe that the reason his CR score is so much lower than the other two is that he doesn't have time to read all the passages. What he answers he generally gets correct, but he ends up skipping a lot of questions.</p>
<p>I'd say that would not necessarily be a bad idea (speed reading). Kids have to know in the CR that they are reading just for information posed in the questions, not a a 'deep' or substantive way (essentially, skimming the passages for info). Maybe that would help him.</p>
<p>I did some Googling, and there seem to be many skeptics. Or at least non-fans.</p>
<p>What might help your son re: CR is to always go to the questions first, before reading the passage. Then read up to the point he finds info, then answer the question.</p>
<p>My husband took a speed reading course in high school. I don't think he actually speed reads for his general reading, but he does read much faster than me. So does Mathson. They both probably read twice as fast as I do. Mathson got an 800 on the CR SAT - I suspect that score is due as much to the amount of reading he does (over 100 books a year when he was in high school), as the speed with which he can read.</p>
<p>One disadvantage of reading so fast is that you are constantly running out of things to read!</p>
<p>We probably received the same brochure (was it from TCU?) I'd enroll my 15 year old if she was available at the time it was offered. She is very bright but a remarkably slow reader. Reading assignments take her a long time, and I know it is going to hold her back as she advances in high school and college. It's hard to find a program that would help her-there are lots of the basic literacy programs, and lots of speed reading programs...we just need a "faster" reading program.</p>
<p>I too read fairly quickly, and have encountered that problem too at one point in time. There's just not enough books it seems until you branch out into other genres or writers. But now my list is backed up to about 20-30. And Jolynne Smyth's strategy is good, but I hated to to use it myself so I never did. Would just read the passage carefully and then answer the questions, checking back if necessary.</p>
<p>Edit: By the way, I wouldn't believe a course like that. What techniques can make someone read more rapidly? Good posture? Some people just read slowly, imho how quick your "unconscious" is determines your max reading speed (assuming proper literacy). Also, an extensive vocabulary built up from reading lots of books helps a lot too.</p>
<p>OP -</p>
<p>The first thing I would try with your kid, is having him take a CR section UNTIMED. That is to say, let him work on it in one sitting until he finishes.</p>
<p>Then, if that score is amazingly different from the score he received in the formal testing situation, I would trot him into the school psychologist's office and politely request screening for every reading disorder and cognitive processing disorder in the book. If his brain processes what he reads very slowly, that issue has to be addressed, and the school special education team is required by law to help find a solution. If he is going to be reading relatively slowly forever, he needs accommodation for that written into a formal educational plan now so that he can get accommodations on future standardized tests, and help with this issue in college.</p>
<p>One in the same, missypie!</p>
<p>CS, one of the things I read about is to stop the habit of actually sounding out all the words in your head. I know I do that. It would be odd to me to not do that, but the idea is that we can only speak so quickly and so sounding it all out slows reading down. The skeptics say you lose comprehension, hence the joke about the guy who speed-read War and Peace who now knows the book is about Russia.</p>
<p>happymom, interesting! Isn't untimed testing the Xiggi way? I was going to let him do that this summer anyway. I'll take a look at that. I think your first comment was right. Associated with a university, makes it seem more legit!</p>
<p>My rising 9th grade D is also very bright, but a slow reader. It affects her test taking ability and, more importantly, her confidence. I checked out the TCU program - it looks like just what she needs. Too bad we don't live in Dallas :( </p>
<p>Does anyone know of a similar speed-reading-for-high-schoolers program online? Thanks.</p>
<p>We got a brochure for a speed reading course affiliated w/St. Joseph's U in Philly. So, there might be some in your area...maybe you could check w/local private schools/colleges?</p>
<p>There was a pretty good post on this topic maybe a year ago; you may want to try running a search.</p>
<p>I've heard mixed reviews about speed reading courses. Some people find their speed and comprehension improving; other people find that with speed, their comprehension falls. I don't think it's all that important a skill to have. </p>
<p>I can "speed read," or I can choose to read slowly. When I read quickly, my eyes move differently around the page--I see the words together in blocks rather than read word-by-word in order. It's probably impossible to sub-vocalize (i.e., reading out loud in your head) and speed read. I choose to sub-vocalize sometimes, but when I'm reading quickly I don't because I'm reading far too quickly and in too strange a manner to do it. I was talking to one of my high school teachers/headmaster after I began college about the amount of reading I had in my classes, and he said that it shouldn't be too bad because of how quickly I read. (In class he would sometimes just assign us reading for the class period, which I would get done with very quickly.) I replied that in college you can only read as fast as you can highlight or take notes. In other words, being able to read quickly isn't very useful if you need to highlight or annotate as you go. </p>
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one of the things I read about is to stop the habit of actually sounding out all the words in your head. I know I do that. It would be odd to me to not do that
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For people who think in words, I'd think it would be very difficult, nearing impossible, to read with only silence in your head. If you're interested in trying to stop sub-vocalizing, even as an experiment, I would try to replace the words in your head with a background hum.</p>
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[quote]
Edit: By the way, I wouldn't believe a course like that. What techniques can make someone read more rapidly? Good posture? Some people just read slowly, imho how quick your "unconscious" is determines your max reading speed (assuming proper literacy). Also, an extensive vocabulary built up from reading lots of books helps a lot too.
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</p>
<p>I was sent on a speed reading course by my company many centuries ago. My attitude going in was that it was a load of nonsense. By the way I was already a very fast reader. But I was very surprised by the course. One thing I learned (actually the only thing I can remember) was that people don't realize that they scan both ahead and back as they are reading. I was really surprised to discover I did in fact do that. One of the techniques was a thing they put over the page that only let you see each line as you were reading it. It trained you to stop scanning back and ahead. I can't remember much else (it is probably 30 years ago) but I was very surprised to find that my already pretty fast reading speed increased considerably by the end of the course. I have no idea what the course was. But speed reading courses can work.</p>
<p>I took Evelyn Food Speed Eating Dynamics class years ago. I learned to eat from left to right and right to left across the plate - with 100% retention! :) What a time saver. It served me well until about age 35.</p>
<p>more on this topic please</p>