What makes a person a "slow reader"?

<p>From ancetodal evidence, it seems many enginners/science studens are very slow readers.</p>

<p>Not true, most sciency people I know (including myself) are fast readers... I am you really need that skill to be able to sift through tons of papers to get what you want.</p>

<p>I am a relatively fast reader, I read a lot though, just finished Crime&P in a few hours. I can't stand having to read books/novels/anything over long durations of time. If I start a book. I have to finish it! I am a good text-book reader too... I scan the whole chapter, then come back to key points-- after 3/4 reviews I've pretty much absorbed everything. I also read news a lot, and blogs (<a href="http://news.google.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://news.google.com&lt;/a&gt;) so that might have something to do with it. It worked on the SATs/SATII LIT as well... where I found myself sitting there half-way through the hour with nothing to do! (funny stroy about the SAT though... I finished everything for a 20min section within ten minutes so I went back and forth and so on-- but then at the 19th minutes I suddenly realized there were two CR questions on the back -- I had forgotten to make sure I reached the STOP. That was scary, but moreso the fact that it happened twice.) Anyways, I think the biggest key to reading fast is getting into what you read-- really ENJOYING it.</p>

<p>My mother noticed that I became hoarse with a sore throat after reading to myself for long periods as a young reader and told me not to sound out the words to myself but just "see" them. I don't know why I never passed that lesson on to my boys, neither of whom enjoy reading despite my best efforts. It might be a good thing for teachers to at least mention this concept. I agree with previous posters that some books are meant to be savored. My mother is a speed reader and I cringe as I see her whip through a book in a few hours I believe requires several days to really appreciate. It's like watching somebody wolf down a gourment dinner but she insists that she misses nothing. While she may be right I have a hard time finding books that last long enough even when read slowly. I judge trips based on how many books I need to lug along to keep myself entertained. The last thing I want is to finish them even quicker. Work stuff, however, is all about the art of skimming.</p>

<p>One poster mentioned LD as a possible cause. People with ADD can also be slow readers. Also, people with slow processing speed can be slow readers. While scores in other areas can be average to superior, the fluency subtests can drag them down. Audio books can be a solution. This is an area where accommodations can help.</p>

<p>Every time you strike a key on your computer keyboard and a character appears on the screen that character has been translated from a number and the number has been stored in binary code, a series of 1's and 0's. I think ultimately however memory is :stored" in the human brain whether it is in binary code or otherwise that the pathways for storing that information lead through the five senses and that there is probably a great deal of human variability in the efficiwncy of those pathways. For slow readers without other identifiable problems I suspect that the auditory pathway is the most efficient. When I say efficient here I don't mean necessarily that it is the fastest for that person, though it may be, but rather that the "pipe" can either hold more data (is fatter) or looses less in translation.</p>

<p>In any even whatever the underlying reason I can tell you that as a classic slow reader, the kind that has NEVER finished a standardized test or a classroom reading assignment or even come close that I can sight read without subvocalization but it causes me actual psychological distress. Pictur being forced to wear a color you despise or eat a food you hate. If your slow reading son or daughter reacts the same way I do then you might be doing them a disservice by trying to "fix" their problem.</p>

<p>In this age of industrial education I know that everyones first inclination is to identify any "part" that falls outside of one standard deviation and fix it and anything outside of two and label it and ship it off to a school for the odd but reading slowly is not really all that big a problem. As I said I never finished a standardized test in my life or even came close and I never scored lower than the 95 percentile.</p>

<p>BTW my own son is not a slow reader and neither were either of parents. I always read a lot or more precisely spent a lot of time reading and I enjoy it. No everybody out jogging is Reynaldo Nehemia</p>

<p>About what TheDad and other people discussing sub-vocalizing were saying... </p>

<p>I think it is ingrained in childhood, probably part nature and part early reading. I know kids who now (at 17) read while moving their lips through the words. I remember in elementary school students who weren't able to read to themselves; they could only read out loud. I think that students were taught to read to themselves after learning to read out loud, which is interesting. When I was young (until maybe seventh grade), I never sub-vocalized, and I rarely thought in words. Now I tend to think more in terms of words and sentences, and I sometimes sub-vocalize (always for poetry, with other things I usually get some words in my head or just a general "hum," if that makes sense). </p>

<p>Another interesting thing is that around seventh or eighth grade, when I began to think/read more in words, my writing skills developed very quickly and dramatically. I have always been quite vocal and articulate, as well, but I am guessing this improved when I began to think in words, too. Another tidbit that may matter is that I only began to speak when I was about three (I began speaking in complete sentences, as is the classic pattern), and I attended about seven years of intensive speach therapy afterwards. It's an interesting topic to ponder!</p>

<p>I'm a fairly fast reader, and I've noticed that, in my case at least, reading silently and reading aloud "feel" differently in my brain. They are different processes. When reading silently I am reading for content. When reading aloud it is more of a transcription function --> converting the symbols on the page to sounds. I don't remember or understand what I read as well when I have read it aloud.</p>

<p>I was always a slow reader and at the late age or 17 the doctor finally figured out that I have a lazy eye. It's not severe, but it's also not correctable. I wear glasses when I read and it really does make a heck of a difference. Maybe your son has a similar issue with his eyesight. They never caught this during my childhood despite all the eye checkups I had, so maybe the case is similar for your son. An astigmatism or a lazy eye could be the problem. (Then again, I don't know if your son already wears glasses)</p>

<p>Can anyone recommend a good speedreading program?</p>

<p>I Have a lazy eye(but its correctable) i have double vision+ Lazy eye and there is a surgery but surgerys scare me since i had a surgery of the brain 2 yrs ago im afraid of all suregerys since...no matter how simple..but my goal is to get over my scaredness by my 17 birthday(when most kids get there licenses while i will be getting my permit hopefullly) so i can start driving b/c that has been my dream forever! my sisters have driven forever..and ive always wanted to be liek them(there 23+ almost 25-in a few days actually!) I cannot drive i will not pass the vision test and if i could my parents would be afraid for me on the road b/c of the vision. MY reading is slow in class but in any book i really like IS really fast...i could read a book i like in less then 24 hours(i once read a 360 page book during my hw..and it all took less then 6 hours) I happen to have trouble reading textbook work tho</p>

<p>My son was diagonised with dyslexia at a very young age. Through an enormous amount of work on his part, our part and several wonderful reading specialists he can read at about 50% of the level he should be reading given his IQ and other measures that are used to "test" for dyslexia. I suspect that some slow readers probably are undiagonosed dyslexics since many dyslexics have high IQs and do manage to master reading eventually especially if they unencumbered by other behavioral issues. I am wondering whether to accept the accomodations he's entitled to during standardized tests like the PSAT and later the ACT or SAT or whether to just let him forge forth so it is in great interest that I read this post and the many that I'm sure will come with this forum. Fortunately this is my youngest so I while I'm searching around for colleges for #1 and #2 I can do the research on college bound kids with LDs. I do find it interesting that many of the slow readers excel at mathematics. The psychiatrist that originally tested my child said this was common among dyslexics.</p>

<p>Slow reading is either physical (visual tracking) or due to some type of learning difference. Often, slow readers do not have a bank of sight words memorized, so they have to sound out every word. Also, there are many words that don't need to be read for comprehension, and one can learn to eliminate those automatically when reading (like "the"). That is the basis of skimming or speed reading.</p>

<p>If the school district testing hasn't found anything wrong, get private testing by someone who uses in-depth tests for reading. Woodcock Johnson, Nelson-Denny,</p>

<p>I am an extremely slow reader majoring in literature. I sound everything out in my head when I read. I also had the problem, for many years, of obsessively rereading lines even once I'd understood their contents. Although I've gotten past that and my speed has increased slightly, I still take hours more than most people to read average-length books.</p>

<p>My retention is quite high, generally. And my vocabulary is fairly strong. Whenever I try to read fast, I'm so focused on pushing myself that I can't retain most of what I've read.</p>

<p>One of my favorite teachers, whom I had for first-year seminar but who usually teaches American literature, told our class that she was a slow reader and always took her speed into account when assigning reading to the rest of us. Not only was I grateful for her understanding, but she gave me hope in general that one does not have to be a fast reader in order to major (and get a doctorate!) in English or literature in general.</p>

<p>As others have said, I generally like taking a long time and really enjoying books that I read for pleasure. However, it's not really the same when reading is piled up for a number of classes, with deadlines. I work with what I've got, though, and so far it's worked out.</p>

<p>I felt like such a failure for years as I spent endless hours reading to my sons and enjoy reading myself---yet both boys hated reading and as late as high school I found out were extremely slow at it. Both were diagnosed with ADD--one in senior year of HS and one as a freshman in college. #2 son also has processing disorder and opted for medication. After starting on meds, he called me from school and said, "do you know I can read a page and actually go on to the next page, knowing what the preceding one said!" I was amazed that I never realized he was having to reread so much.</p>

<p>OP, if your child has not been tested, that might be the first place to start.</p>

<p>Three<em>to</em>go
I was a slow reader. I am not so much anymore. </p>

<p>I was evaluated and it was determined that I had a "processing disorder" so I could get extra time on tests. I found out that this was the fancy way of saying they couldn't really figure out if it was a depression or my OCD that caused my "slowness". I had double time for a few semesters in college but then I didn't need it anymore. </p>

<p>I have determined that my reading time is directly related to my mood because I will always be a little OCD no matter what they give me!!! </p>

<p>I will also mention that NO ONE knew I was depressed. I managed to hide it very well. People who knew me at the time are always surprised when I describe my life from that period. I am not suggesting your S is depressed but keep in mind most kids won't admit to it and most kids don't display alot of what we think of as "typical" symptoms. </p>

<p>I also agree that reading speed is text dependent as TheDad mentioned.</p>

<p>I know. I'm one too. And it's a major problem - since I KEEP ON GLANCING AT THE WORDS WITHOUT GETTING ANY VOCABULARY ACQUISITION. Anxiety certainly doesn't help either. </p>

<p>Sigh...</p>

<p>And if it were not for that, things would be far easier...</p>

<p>Oh, and it usually happens during math books. It probably has to do with impatience too. But writing down things as I read htem doesn't help much.</p>

<p>ANxiety.</p>

<p>Hmm, maybe I DO need meds to control it. Has anyone tried nootropics for reading faster/stopping GLARING AT THE WORDS DOING NOTHING?</p>

<p>My son had trouble reading due to damage to his cranial nerves that weakened the muscles holding his eyes in place. Since his eyes didn't line up correctly (both pointed outward & one was higher that the other), he not only had double vision, but one image overlaid the other on an angle. Although he described it, numerous doctors seemed to dismiss it. We didn't realize the extent of the damage for two years, because he tried to compensate by ignoring the lighter (in color) image. His reading scores had dropped dramatically during those years. The eye strain must have been enormous. After 2 1/2 years of living with his problem (& seeing different doctors), I took him to see an eye specialist in Phili who listened for 2 minutes and obviously understood immediately. My son realized someone finally "got it." & he agreed to eye surgery (will need another) in 9th grade. Along with prisms in his glasses, he's able to see just one image (if he looks directly ahead). His CR score has risen dramatically. He still reads slowly, but at least he's reading. He used to avoid it.</p>

<p>I suggest a good eye exam and really listen to your kid. Mine stopped complaining coz no one seemed to understand.</p>

<p>I have always been a slow reader. It was only recently that I found that if I could avoid sub-vocalizing, as several posters have mentioned, and focus on finding the verbs in every sentence, then it seems I can skim over the rest and still catch the meaning -- but it takes a lot of effort and redoubling of effort to master that.</p>

<p>Also, I liked what one poster above said about just "seeing the words" rather than articulating each one. But, again, the old habits die hard.</p>