Speed Reading -- Know any good resources? NM.

[ssbmem]

NM.

[Maverick]

I teach the Accelerated Reading program at Sylvan Learning Center. It is taught in small classes and runs for 12 hours--usually 2 hours twice a week for 3 weeks. Typically students will double their effective reading rate (ERR = speed times % comprehension). If you have a Sylvan in your area I highly recommend this program.

[Pamela H in Texas]

speedreading4kids.com cheap and effective.

[Christine]

I'll have to look into this more.

 

My eldest is an insanely slow reader (superb retention / comprehension though). He has taken all the books from the library regarding speed reading. . .

 

Ummm, they don't work. Essentially, they help you determine "highlights", and tell you to skip the rest. This works great in "how-to" books (i.e. 7 habits of highly effective people, you can be done after the table of contents), or certain texts, like science or math related. . .but for literature? NOPE!

 

He also complains about the fact that they almost all seem directed at college students who are trying to pass a class, and / or get a good grade. (Apparently, there is a lot of "talk" in these books about outlining, and he can't fathom why they are titled a "speed reading" book if over 1/2 of them are outlining or test taking.)

 

All that to say, that out of 7 library books on the topic, I don't have a single one to suggest.

[Sharon in MD]

We bought it from Timberdoodle. I don't know that this is truly a speed reading program, but it has really helped us to read better and faster. It helps you to develop good reading habits and break bad ones. It runs on you computer and helps you learn to focus better and track much more effectively.

 

It is very encouraging to see your speed improve too. It was relatively inexpensive and will work for kids or adults, 75.00 from timberdoodle.

 

It also about 20 minutes a day to be effective

 

http://www.timberdoodle.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=646

[Ms. Riding Hood]

Okay, please nobody throw tomatoes, but I bought speedreading4kids because I had seen it raved about here, particularly by one person (I honestly don't remember who). Any time the topic came up she suggested this program and described the gains her dc had made using it. I'm not saying this person was giving wrong or exaggerated information AT ALL...but our story is different.

 

I thought the whole program was very hokey. The entire thing can be summed up in about two pages. The rest of the book simply repeats this information in various ways, and there are directions for how to use it to teach it to different age groups or to teach in different settings.

 

The gist of it is that you let your eyes move over the page quickly, and not necessarily in any particular order, either. You do drills with the learner, using a pencil to tap every so many seconds to establish pacing. For example, the learner practices "seeing" one page every five seconds, lets say; he goes for a certain period of time, turning the pages every five seconds. It is stressed that understanding is not necessary--that will "come later". There are other drills, too, but in general the whole process involves seeing quickly, even if you do not understand. Don't get me wrong, the author addresses the idea of comprehension somewhat, but there is certainly a period of time where you are expected to "speed read" even though you may have NO comprehension.

 

He does emphasize that you have to keep working at this to see results. So I'll admit right up front that we did not. We worked daily for maybe two or three weeks and began to feel rather ridiculous flipping pages at a high rate of speed without really having a clue about the text. We followed his instructions rigidly, I'd say. But there's only so long you can keep doing something that seems so unintuitive without seeing any results.

 

I'd really love to hear from someone who has used it with good results! Maybe we should try again?

[Grace is Sufficient]

Okay, please nobody throw tomatoes, but I bought speedreading4kids because I had seen it raved about here, particularly by one person (I honestly don't remember who). Any time the topic came up she suggested this program and described the gains her dc had made using it. I'm not saying this person was giving wrong or exaggerated information AT ALL...but our story is different.

 

I thought the whole program was very hokey. The entire thing can be summed up in about two pages. The rest of the book simply repeats this information in various ways, and there are directions for how to use it to teach it to different age groups or to teach in different settings.

 

The gist of it is that you let your eyes move over the page quickly, and not necessarily in any particular order, either. You do drills with the learner, using a pencil to tap every so many seconds to establish pacing. For example, the learner practices "seeing" one page every five seconds, lets say; he goes for a certain period of time, turning the pages every five seconds. It is stressed that understanding is not necessary--that will "come later". There are other drills, too, but in general the whole process involves seeing quickly, even if you do not understand. Don't get me wrong, the author addresses the idea of comprehension somewhat, but there is certainly a period of time where you are expected to "speed read" even though you may have NO comprehension.

 

He does emphasize that you have to keep working at this to see results. So I'll admit right up front that we did not. We worked daily for maybe two or three weeks and began to feel rather ridiculous flipping pages at a high rate of speed without really having a clue about the text. We followed his instructions rigidly, I'd say. But there's only so long you can keep doing something that seems so unintuitive without seeing any results.

 

I'd really love to hear from someone who has used it with good results! Maybe we should try again?

 

Wow! I could have written this post... I was disillusioned by the lack of concern for comprehension, and didn't keep it up more than a few weeks. Perhaps success comes to those who diligently work for months, but I didn't.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Lynne,

 

I'm POSITIVE I was the one you noted as I've been SR4K biggest advocate. If you did it for 2-3 WEEKS daily without any positive results, then it obviously wasn't for you. You should have been able to see a marked difference in only a week, even without the 2nd level of reading.

 

Like you, I found the program cheesy and worried about that when I first bought it. Why say things 14 times when once would suffice?

 

I definitely wouldn't have moved on without some success. The first time you do a second per LINE, you won't get much, but I wouldn't have moved to 2 second pages before I WAS getting something, ya know?

 

As it is, this worked extremely well for my daughter and another man that I worked with using it. My daughter did it with me but though I did decently, I didn't particularly LIKE the work.

 

One thing for everyone to consider, you too Lynne, is that he gives a full guarantee AND will honor it. So if you found your results were considerably different than ours, you could get a return of your $40.

 

Things I liked:

 

1) it worked and it worked fast (for dd and the young man)

2) it isn't "college level" with all the uninteresting parts of being college level

3) it encouraged better "slow" reading also

4) it gave confidence to both my "pupils" (the young man really struggled in school and with reading and it really helped him feel better as well as DO better in the college courses he was attempting).

5) preteens and teens with diff-abilities find greatest gains.

 

YMMV, but $40 that can be refunded if you don't see similar results seems to make more sense than spending a great deal of time and money on other programs that don't even boast similar results.

[Jan P.]

My dd used a similar program through a Sylvan program. I saw a description of Ace Reader in the Timberdoodle catalog. It seems very similar to Sylvan's Milliken (?) program that was used with dd. I think the text is presented on the screen and it rolls off the screen so the child's eyes are not wandering about. I know I'm not explaining this very well, but think of those electronic signs you see at airports and drugstores where the sentence is moving off the screen. I think the speed can be adjusted too, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it gets a pretty good review in Timberdoodle, and it isn't too expensive.

 

FWIW,

Jan P.

[Jan P.]

My dd used a similar program through a Sylvan program. I saw a description of Ace Reader in the Timberdoodle catalog. It seems very similar to Sylvan's Milliken (?) program that was used with dd. I think the text is presented on the screen and it rolls off the screen so the child's eyes are not wandering about. I know I'm not explaining this very well, but think of those electronic signs you see at airports and drugstores where the sentence is moving off the screen. I think the speed can be adjusted too, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it gets a pretty good review in Timberdoodle, and it isn't too expensive.

 

FWIW,

Jan P.

 

Here is a link of descriptions of different reading software programs. The Milliken program my dd used is also mentioned (very expensive - no wonder Sylvan can use it!). Here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/43ydo7

 

 

HTH,

Jan P.

[ssbmem]

BTW, thanks for all your responses.

[choirfarm]

You might ask eye doctors. My son did Dynamic Reader in addition to his other vision therapy. Sometimes it showed only a single text, sometimes it showed sentences at a time, sometimes the whole page. Here is a link, but I'm guessing you would have to do it through an eye doctor.

 

http://www.bernell.com/product/1524/37

 

My son's reading score went to the 99 percentile and his IQ test went up 15 points this year. (I didn't think your IQ test was supposed to change and it had been steady for the years before, so I'm not sure what was going on with that other than maybe he could process the questions better. His teacher and then I as homeschooling mom thought he was very bright and his test scores never showed it, but now I realize maybe his visual processing was interfering and he just compensates VERY well.) I'm guessing that the vision therapy/ dynamic reading had something to do with his score improvement. He already loved to read and was good at it. The only thing about the dynamic reader is that he raced through all of the stories. Oh..and it has comprehension questions you have to answer at the end of each story. Our doctor said there was a way to scan things into the program, but he hadn't ever had a child need that. He is still doing his vision therapy, so I haven't followed up yet.

 

Christine