How to slow down a very fast reader who misses things?

[Jenn in CA]

My 11yo is a very fast reader. She reads accurately, but she does miss things, and doesn't always recall well. She *loves* to read. 

Of course, telling her to slow down doesn't do anything. Should I be encouraging her to slow down, and if so, how? She doesn't mind re-reading the same books over and over, but it is hard to keep up with her pace and her tremendous need for new and more books.

Maybe being a super-fast reader isn't a problem and I should be happy about it, I just thought I'd see if anyone had any thoughts. I consider myself a fast reader, but she seems to read twice as fast as me! I slow down for something difficult or that I really want to savor. She doesn't seem to savor, and nothing, to her, is difficult. Maybe there's an accurate reading-rate & accuracy test or something?

I've done diebels fluency testing, and her oral reading rate is just soooo high, and she understands it all. I honestly don't know how she can move her mouth so quickly. 😮She does talk really fast & gets mumbly, we all have trouble understanding her at times.

I posted in the LC forum because she has ADHD tendencies (based the limited reading I've done on it), and struggles w/spelling & recalling/remembering vocab esp proper nouns. It's like a working memory weakness combined w/the need to read (and do everything) super-fast. 

Hope this makes sense.

[ElizabethB]

Nonsense words. Based on the spelling trouble and the too fast reading, I would have her run through my entire syllables program and then do extra nonsense words daily for a few months.  The syllables program uses a lot of nonsense words and review spelling.  The divided syllables in Webster also help slow down a student.

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

I would not time the nonsense words after the initial evaluation, have her work for 100% accuracy, not speed, maybe time them monthly or weekly after that. (or time them without her noticing that you're timing them, timing them can be counterproductive for someone who reads too fast at the cost of accuracy.)

My quick screen grade level test and nonsense word test and the MWIA all should give you an idea of her accuracy, they are linked at the bottom of the syllables page.  I would do the complete MWIA Version II from Don Potter, not the MWIA 3, a good reader needs all 200 words to see accuracy problems. 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by ElizabethB

[ElizabethB]

ETA: You can read really fast and read accurately.  I read 700 - 900 WPM and read every word and hear every word in my head (and wonder why they don't sound chipmunk-y!) But, I also have some remedial students who read with fast with 90- 98% accuracy and this causes reading comprehension problems.  When I remediate their phonics and use nonsense words, their accuracy improves and they slow down a bit at first, although some of them do end up reading as fast or faster as they did at the beginning, but with improved accuracy. Most stay at a slightly reduced speed with improved accuracy.  My students who start out as slow, inaccurate readers all improve their reading speed after tutoring.

[Storygirl]

I don't know how to slow someone down when reading independently.

DD14 does not like to read (dyslexic, so reading is hard). But when she reads to herself, she reads things at a gulp and can miss the details of words, though she has very high comprehension of the overall passage. In her WISC testing, her processing speed is wicked high. It's her highest score and is about 30-35 points higher than her other scores. So I attribute this to her processing speed.

So far, it hasn't seemed to cause her issues with schoolwork. She does have a tendency to kind of jump forward and miss details. I am most concerned for how this will affect her with reading science in high school, because of the difficulty of the unfamiliar vocabulary she will encounter. For fiction reading, her comprehension ability helps to offset the things she misses, though I still consider that it would be better if she could learn to slow down a little.

[Little Green Leaves]

Would it help if she took notes while she's reading? I tend to read quickly and sometimes I miss things. Note taking (either on a separate piece of paper or in the margins) makes a huge difference for me. At this point, just having a pencil in my hand while I read helps to keep me focused and engaged!

I used to tutor a student who was VERY intelligent but had trouble focusing while he read. He'd sit there with a pencil in his hand and tap the pencil the whole time that he was reading -- that kept him focused.