Speed Reading

Speed Reading…Go for Efficiency

Many people believe that they must focus on speed in order to improve their reading skills.  In fact, if you focus on efficiency in your reading, you will achieve better results – and your speed will improve as well! An efficient reader is a reader with a purpose.  He knows what he wants to get out of what he is reading, and may even have some questions in his mind that he hopes the book will answer. He focuses on ideas, rather than words, and visualizes the ideas presented in the book or article. As he reads, the efficient reader will mentally ‘sort’ the information to decide what is important and he focuses on only the important or intriguing information.  The efficient reader reads at a steady pace.  He does not ‘regress’, or go back to re-read.  He does not hesitate over a line and wonder whether he has gotten all the information. He may adjust his speed to focus on a particularly critical area or to accommodate a sudden distraction or interruption that may affect his focus. In other words, he is reading ‘consciously’ and is therefore aware when he needs to increase his focus so that he does not lose information. You find it surprising to learn that, some of the best readers also mark text for emphasis, as they read.  By consciously marking or underscoring text on a page, the reader encourages his brain to recall this important information.

Speed Reading - An efficient reader does not focus on single words, but rather reads words in groups and phrases, thereby processing an entire thought.  To understand this concept better, think about the language of the deaf. While there is a deaf alphabet with single letters, and in some cases a deaf person will use letters to spell a during communication, for the most part people in the deaf community are likely to use signs that represent a concept or an entire thought. Because they are using their visual perception to ‘see’ and ‘read’ the signs, it is faster and more complete to use a sign that represents a concept or topic, than to laboriously spell each word. If you watch a blind person ‘read’ a Braille text, you will notice how fast their fingers fly over the raised symbols.  They do not focus on each dot or set of dots.  Rather, their brain processes the ‘thought’ or concept that communicated in the Braille symbols. If you want to read more efficiently, you must first break the habits that come from the more traditional methods of teaching a child to read. Practice reading every day.  You can use newspaper or magazine articles in the beginning.  Consciously focus on reading phrases, rather than words, and resist the temptation to go back and re-read a phrase.  Trust your brain to get the concept. Make an effort to increase the pace of your reading beyond where you are normally comfortable.  At first, this will seem unnatural, but you will get used to it. Go into the reading exercise with focus, and if you are distracted, adjust your pace or put the reading aside until you can dispense with the distraction. Look at the subject matter of what you are reading, and formulate questions in your mind before you start to read.  Then read for the answers and information you want to get from the book or article. Read for ‘importance’.  If you determine that a paragraph or line is not critical to what you want to get out of the exercise, move quickly through this information and on to concepts that are more important to your purpose. Be sure that you keep your eyes focused on what you are reading.  Do not let your eyes wander all over the page or stray from your reading material. If you own the book or article, feel free to mark it for phrases, ideas or thoughts that are important to you.  This technique will help you to remember what you read, and to keep your mind focused on reading.