Improving Your Young Child's Reading Skills

Education Expert Advice from Peggy Gisler, Ed.S. and Marge Eberts, Ed.S.
Q: My seven-year-old son loves school. He is great in math, but his second-grade teacher is telling me that his reading skills are at a firstgrade level. When he reads to me, he rarely misses words. Although he's not a fast reader, most of the time he can retell the story back to me. I have Hooked on Phonics, but getting him to concentrate 30 minutes a night sometimes is a challenge. I make flash cards for his spelling words every week. I want to know what else I can do to get his reading skills up to second-grade level. A: Between the ages of four and eight, most children learn to read; however, they acquire reading skills at different rates. Because children's ability to read is the number one predictor of their future academic success, they need to master this skill by the end of third grade. It's good to hear that you have established communication with your son's teacher. Since the teacher has identified that your son is presently reading below grade level, you need to make an appointment to talk more with her about your child's reading strengths and deficiencies. At the meeting, ask the teacher why your son is reading below grade level and for specific suggestions on ways to help him. Find out if the teacher feels that he needs testing or a tutor to help him. You should continue to have your son read to you daily as well as read stories to him. Have him read a passage several times until he can read it smoothly in your reading sessions. Get a list from the teacher of the Dolch or Fry basic words that your child should know. Students must instantly recognize these words in order to read rapidly. Many of these words cannot be sounded out; they must just be memorized. Make flash cards of these words for drill and games. Since your son has a difficult time doing 30 minutes of a phonics program, break the sessions up into several shorter sessions. Finally, to work on your son's reading speed, start reading out loud with him for at least 10 minutes every day. If you do this consistently, you will soon notice a difference in his reading fluency.

How to Learn Speed Reading

Whether you're hitting the textbooks in philosophy class, reading long-winded emails from co-workers, or just reading the morning newspaper, chances are at one time or another you've wished you could read a little faster. A host of companies now offer books, training sessions and even computer programs to increase reading speed, sometimes at a cost of hundreds of dollars. But why fork over your paycheck or student loan money for a speed reading system when you can start reading faster today by following these simple steps? 1. Time your current reading speed. Not only will timing help you to tell if you're improving, but it will also keep you motivated.

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You can break out a book and a stopwatch and either time how long it takes you to read a certain number of words on a page or find out how many words you read in a given amount of time. An easier way to time yourself is to take an online reading speed test. There are plenty of these available: just enter "reading speed test" in your search engine. Many of these have reading comprehension tests, as well, so you can see how well you're understanding what you're reading. Regardless of how you decide to time yourself, be sure to read at your normal speed during the timing, and time yourself on a few different pages - the average of your times should approximate your average reading speed.

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Get rid of distractions. Even if you think you read better when you have music playing or when you're in a crowded coffee house, you can probably increase your speed if you reduce distractions to a bare minimum. Try to find a solitary place to read, and turn off the TV, radio and cell phone.

Even being in a room of people talking is distracting. If no solitary place is available, try using earplugs to block out any distractions around you.

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Adjust reading speed depending on the material. Often, we must trade off comprehension for speed, so an important part of increasing reading speed is deciding how thoroughly you need to comprehend a particular piece of writing. So before you even start reading, decide how fast you intend to go.

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If you're reading a newspaper article, chances are you just want to get the main ideas, and you can skim through the passages quite rapidly. If, however, you're reading a mathematics textbook or a demanding philosophical treatise - and you need to fully understand the material you do not want to rush.

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Learn to separate the wheat from the chaff with pre-reading. No matter what you are reading, there is frequently a lot of "filler" that you can read quickly through or even skim over. With practice, you will be able to identify the most important parts of a book as you skim through it. When you get to such a passage, slow down.

Before you begin a chapter or book, look over the entire piece very quickly. Try to find patterns of repeated words, key ideas, bold print and other indicators of important concepts. Then, when you actually do your reading you may be able to skim over large portions of the text, slowing only when you come to something you know is important.

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Train yourself not to reread. Most people frequently stop and skip back to words or sentences they just read to try to make sure they understood the meaning. This is usually unnecessary, but it can easily become a habit, and many times you will not even notice you're doing it.

One exercise to help you avoid rereading is to take a sheet of paper or index card and drag it down the page as you read, covering each line once you've read it. Try to drag the card in a steady motion; start slowly, and increase your speed as you feel more comfortable.

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Stop reading to yourself. As you read you probably subvocalize, or pronounce the words to yourself. Almost everybody does it, although to different degrees: some people actually move their lips or say the words under their breath, while others simply say each word in their heads. Regardless of how you subvocalize, it slows you down.

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To break the habit, try to be conscious of it. When you notice yourself pronouncing words to yourself, try to stop doing it. Practice visualizing a word at the moment you see it, rather than confirming the word in your mind and then visualizing it. It may help to focus on key words and skip over others, or you may want to try humming to yourself or counting "1,2,3,4" repeatedly in order to prevent subvocalizing. One exercise to stop your lips from moving is to put a finger on your mouth and keep it there while you read.

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Read with your hand. Smooth, consistent eye motion is essential to speed reading. You can maximize your eyes' efficiency by using your hand to guide them. One such method is to simply draw your hand down each page as you read. You can also brush your hand under each line you read, as if you are brushing dust off the lines.

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Your eyes instinctively follow motion, and the movement of your hand serves to keep your eyes moving constantly forward. Note, however, that many speed reading instruction books warn off using a tracking member in speed reading as it inhibits the process.

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Practice reading blocks of words. Nearly everyone learned to read word-by-word or even letter-by-letter, but once you know the language, that's not the most efficient method of reading. Not every word is important, and in order to read quickly, you'll need to read groups of words or even whole sentences or short paragraphs - instantaneously. The good news is you probably already do this to some extent: most people read three or four words at a time.

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Try focusing on the middle of the line while reading the entire line. Do not let any word take shape before moving on the next word. This causes confusion, and at the beginning, problems of not understanding are there. Usually after a month of vigorous practice there is enough practice to skip over many words without misunderstanding the text. Once you have mastered that, concentrate on the center of the page, not the line.

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Practice and push yourself. While you may see some gains in speed the moment you start using these tips, speed reading is a skill that requires a lot of practice. Always push yourself to your comfort level and beyond - if you end up having to reread a section, it's not a big deal. Keep practicing regularly.

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Time yourself regularly. After a week or so of practice, time yourself again. Do this regularly thereafter, and keep track of your improvement. Don't forget to pat yourself on the back every time your reading speed increases!

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Have speed reading work sessions of 20 minutes with one book and one clear purpose. If you feel you still need more from a book, dont go back to it until youve had a break.

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Have a clear purpose for reading. Know what you want to get from a book before you start reading. Are you reading for pleasure (doing what pleases you) or for information?

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If youre reading for information, set your purpose, which will either be to find specific information, or to discover its message, what its about. Have a SMART purpose for your reading. In business, people are often told to set a SMART goal or purpose. This applies to reading too. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Real (WIIFM), Time-bound (or timely).

Tips

When reading chunks of words, note that the eye can actually span about four or five words on an average page. However, most readers don't use their peripheral vision to see words at the ends of each line. To overcome this, "soften" your gaze when you read by relaxing your face and expanding your gaze, you'll begin to see blocks of words instead of seeing each word as distinct unit. As you get good at this, your eyes will skip faster and faster across the page. When you get close to the end of the line, let your peripheral vision take over to see the last set of words. This way you can quickly scan across and down to the next line. An index card, bookmark, or other page-width item might help increase speed more than a finger. By obscuring surrounding text, a card prevents your eyes from wandering. When using your hand or finger to guide your eyes, start slowly, but at a challenging pace. Even if you don't think you're keeping up with your hand, keep going for a page or two and then test your comprehension. With practice, you'll be able to move your hand and read fasterthat way. Take frequent breaks. Your comprehension and focus will be better if you take a five-minute break every hour or half-hour. Taking breaks is also important to keep your eyes healthy and avoid eye strain. A great trick while using an index card is to put caret symbols (^) every inch along your index card. This helps to read groups of words rather than individual words. As you improve use a new card with the carets further apart so you read more words in each burst. You may not want to read some things quickly, even if you can. Fiction for example, is usually relatively easy to read quickly, but you can miss out on a lot of the nuance and beauty of the fiction writer's craft, even if you understand everything that's going on in a story. The same is doubly true for poetry. If you're reading for enjoyment, it may be best to savor the words. Start by reading a book or article that you have already read. It will be easier to skip words and keep up a smooth flow if you're familiar with the material. The simpler the book/passage/letter is, the quicker it will be to comprehend. Start with simple ones, then move on to harder ones.

Warnings

Many people who read particularly slowly do so because they have an undiagnosed vision problem. Even if you think you have perfect vision, if you haven't had an eye exam recently, there's no time like the present. While faster reading can actually improve your comprehension by making you a more active, focused reader, reading too fast can also lead to decreased comprehension. You read in order to get important information; if you're reducing your comprehension dramatically, you might as well not read at all. Beware of expensive speed reading products. Try the tips above before you spend money on a speed reading book or kit. If you're still not making progress after a few weeks of regular, serious practice, you may want to consider paying for a product, but do some research and compare your options before you do. Sleep well! You won't be able to have a good understanding of the text if you don't. It will make you spend a lot more time on reading, and even like that, the comprehension isn't going to be as high as you may wish.