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Speed reading
is an art of its own. Who among the regular mortals
are not surprised when a twelve year old girl starts
boasting that she can easily read 2,000 words per
minutes, and then actually reads up that much to prove
her claim? It is a disciplined approach to learning
speed reading that can get a child read at that speed.
And most importantly, it has been observed that children
are the best speed readers.
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Children
at an age of learning tend to learn many things much
faster than adults. Take learning languages as an
example. A child would learn a language simply by
hearing it spoken by others, whereas adults would
require extensive training and discipline to learn
the same language. The same applies to learning speed
reading. Research has shown that children learn the
art much quicker than adults. To be more specific,
children aged between eight to twelve years have been
the best to learn the art of speed reading. And with
the right formal training, many of them are known
to have easily beaten their teachers and parents handsomely.
It is interesting
to note that almost every child appears to have a
natural knack of speed reading. With formal training,
the scale this speed reaches is believable only after
one sees it. After a training period of one month,
it would not be surprising at all to see every 4 child
out of 5 read at least 2000 words per minute at ease,
making a conservative estimate. The initial objective
of the training is initially to make the child understand
how to read fast and train the child to implement
the understanding of the speed reading process, and
then in the later parts of the training the trainer
simply needs to monitor and ensure that the child
retains the skills acquired in the initial phase.
Typically the initial phase of the training would
last around a month, after which the child would be
able to carry out the speed reading. The later part
involving monitoring the child would last for around
another couple of months. So the total process ought
to get over in three months with a good degree of
success.
There are
two points worth making a note of before starting
to teach a child the art of speed reading. Number
one: start with a book with a large font size rather
than a regular one. It is found that children learn
the art better if taught with a bigger font size.
Number two: if possible, try to teach the children
in a group. Research shows that kids tend to learn
speed reading the best when taught in a group of 5-8
children. The most salient observation in case of
group teaching has been that whenever even one of
the children starts picking up the skill early, the
rest of the group draws motivation from him/her. As
a result, the overall group performance is boosted.
There are
four key areas of focus while teaching speed reading.
They are the following:
1) Natural vision:
This is the first and most basic step of learning
speed reading. Speed reading is not realistic if
a child tries to read and decipher every single
word. Speed reading is possible only with being
able to view the entire page at the same time. This
is like image viewing where we view the entire picture
at the same time. The natural vision step involves
viewing the entire page together rather than one
line of the page at a time, and this lays the foundation
of speed reading.
2) Visualization:
Once a child understands how to look at a page or
section of text as a broad image, the next capability
he/she would require is visualization. The image
no loner remains an image - it is associated with
other real-life entities and/or objects that the
child is more capable of remembering. Many children
find it easy to remember if the text translates
to a set of colors, sounds, smells and emotions
that automatically tune to their mind.
3) Relaxation:
While picking up speed, it is often seen that the
children get excited about the fact that they are
making progress. In turn, they try to further speed
up the process of progress. The result is a reduced
level of comprehension. The tension causes a loss
of concentration of mind and the overall reduction
in performance. Hence, staying relaxed and maintaining
the level of concentration is crucial in the whole
process.
4) Habituation:
Finally, speed reading can come only from habit.
Just because your kid did not read a few hundred
words on her second day, it does not mean that she
is never going to read fast. On the contrary, the
speed reading process involves the child's brain
in a way never used before, and initially it often
takes time for the child to start accelerating.
With disciplined and regular practice, getting over
the initial phases of blockage is just a matter
of time and it would usually happen without any
massive delay.
Even though
the child may start reading fast, it does not mean
that he/she will remember everything right from the
first day. Remembering everything read as a part of
speed reading is an art that your child will gradually
develop.
To test
and/or assist the speed reading capabilities acquired
by your child, you may want to carry out some exercises.
For example, in an early phase of the learning, you
may want the child to see 6 pages in 12 seconds. They
need not remember it, but some of them may talk about
a section that they remember. Encourage it, and the
child along with other children will become more positive
and progress faster. In an advanced stage of the process,
you may ask your kid to read an 80 page book in 10
minutes, and at the end of the reading ask what the
child recalls.
Once they
are through with the main part of the course, monitor
their reading no a regular basis. If you find the
kids to perform speed reading on their own with a
natural inclination to it, you have met your goal.
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