Anyway, our deaf and dumb friend increased his reading speeds to over 2000 words a minute during the rest of the course, and with 100% on every test we did. I was longing for him to make just one mistake, but to avail!  Quite incredible.

So what does this tell us about the way we read? First, let’s accept that we can’t do anything about the way children are taught to read – that’s up to others. But we have to challenge the belief that we have to hear every word in the head to be sure we understand it. In fact the brain is capable of making visual comprehension from what the eyes see – this happens all the time when we are not reading but looking. For example, if you were to look out of the window right now and saw there was a lot of traffic passing by, I doubt you would say to yourself  “Gee  – what a lot of traffic today!” Or, you are thirsty. You reach for a glass of water. Your eyes see the glass of water, you lift it up and you drink from it. But when you focus on the glass, do you have to say to yourself “Glass of water” before deciding to drink from it. You see the glass and understand immediately. No mental sound, no inner voice, just instant action.

The impact of total sub-vocalisation is that it slows reading speeds down to speaking speeds. The brain can think much faster than the speed of speech.  For example, an idea can come into your head in an instant, but it might take you 5 minutes to explain it to another.  When we read at the speed of speech, we can quickly lose concentration. If that happens, our comprehension suffers and we make a regression – have to go back over the text.  Time is lost needlessly. Reading becomes a chore.

So what to do about sub-vocalisation?

More on “A Day in the life of a Speed Reading trainer – sub-vocalisation, part 3”

So the day of the first course arrived, and as I was setting up the room the first student arrived – about half an hour early. I was rather taken aback when he proceeded to seat himself about hall a meter away from me.  I greeted him but got no response, which I thought odd – perhaps he is hung over.  Maybe it was because he wasn’t looking at me when I said “Good morning”. He then took out a note-book and wrote something in it. He then tore out the page and handed it to me. The note read: “What time does it start?  I am deaf and dumb by the way. ”

Things now became clearer. Obviously he wanted to sit near the front so as to lip- read and hand me any written questions he might have.

So I started the class half an hour later. I noticed immediately that his reading speed from the first tests we did to establish benchmarks was about 4 times greater than anyone in the room.  Not only that, he got every question right after having read the texts – he couldn’t have been cheating as he was sitting in front of me. Needless to say this was a revelation to me, and I wondered how on earth could someone with such an affliction achieve such results.

The answer came later when I talked about sub-vocalisation – the need to hear the words in the head.  For most people, this habit limits their reading speeds to little more than their speaking speeds.  For our deaf and dumb friend, this of course had never been a problem. He taught himself to read by looking at the words to understand them, without having to sub-vocalise anything. He was reading close to the speed of thought than the speed of speech.  He was reading without inhibition.

More on “A Day in the life of a Speed Reading trainer – sub-vocalisation, part 2”

Reading speed does not improve with one session. Ideal software should check your current reading speed and pace the reading in such a manner that the increase in speed is gradual. A rhythm needs to be developed and in the process re-reading be completely prevented.

It should have an in-built speed and comprehension testing program. That is to say that test should measure how fast you can read and how much you understand. As you progress, tests should be conducted at frequent intervals to measure your improvement.

Training should be based on the individual and software should enable you to use your own material.  If you have the potential to read faster, software should be able to challenge your skills and push you further up.

As stated above, a speed reading training program is meaningless without a number of reading comprehension tests. Tracking comprehension levels at every stage is equally important. Speed reading is not about compromising comprehension for speed. Ideally, the comprehension tests should be done along with the reading speed test.

You should be able to plot your progress as the course proceeds. You can evaluate the trend of learning as well as be able to correct if anything is amiss.

Quicksilver provide speed reading training for either half a day or on our one day course.  Our speed reading courses will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.

Speed-reading in a self improvement tool that can help you read faster without compromising on reading comprehension or memory retention. You do not have to enrol for classroom coaching or spend money on computer applications, although these will quicken your speed of learning. You can practise some simple techniques every day that will improve your reading speed.

The basis of speed reading is to train the eye to move faster across text. Read the text in groups of words or mini thought units.  If you can increase the number of words in each group, you are closer to mastering speed reading. These blocks are also called “chunks”. We talk about chunking the text.

A good tip is to keep the reading material a little away from you so that even your peripheral vision is put to use. This will help you improve your ability to see all words without having to move your eyes sideways.

So try moving your eyes say three times per line, seeing the words in chunks. Imagine  crossing the room you are in in three wide steps, rather than lots of little ones, like a Chinese Geisha girl.  It will take time to get used to this and at first your comprehension will go down, if only because you will be thinking of the skill rather than absorbing the text. So initially you will have to spend some before you are comfortably settled with the new habit of reading.

Another tip is to use a pen as a pointer, or a finger, at a slightly higher pace than your reading speed. Try to read faster than the speed of the pointer. Practice this technique about three to four times a day. The length of the reading material can be just one page and you can gradually increase it as your reading speed improves.

Another technique which will save you lots of time is previewing. In a business environment, you will find a lot of detail as well as key information in what you have to read as part of your job.   Try to find the information that is relevant to you by skimming the text. For example, read only the first paragraph, then the first lines of the others and the whole of the last one. Then only return to those paragraphs which are relevant to your aim. If you are not used to reading business reports, you can also apply this while reading a newspaper. Once you know what the information is in a newspaper column reading the title, you will be in a position to scan the entire text in a lesser time to grasp the news.

Speed reading can become a habit with practice. Use the above techniques daily to read whatever you are reading. Within a few weeks of starting this practice, you will notice a considerable increase in your reading speed. You can then adopt various other techniques to improve it further.

Quicksilver Reading provides speed reading training courses for individuals and groups.  Our speed reading courses will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.

One of the factors that is of paramount importance is not to rush through a speed-reading training course – whether in a class-room or online. It takes time to get rid of an old habit and acquire a new one. This is especially true since the reading habit that you have now has been acquired as a child. It will definitely take time to change it and adopt a new one. It is important to keep patient and be self-motivated throughout.

There is plenty of help available on speed reading. This varies from software to manuals to simple tips to classroom coaching. Whichever method you adopt, remember none will yield results in a day. Some may take lesser time than others but all are based on the simple assumption that you will stick at it. Your job is to practise the techniques that are being taught.

Start practising your faster reading skills on lighter reading material. This will ensure that you do not get bored and have some early success! Also that way you don’t have to worry about assimilating a lot of information like business reports or a research thesis. Follow the steps diligently and you can start seeing results in about a week after you have started. However to make it a habit, it takes close to three weeks or more.

If you are a determined learner, by the end of three weeks you will have at least doubled your reading speed. Once you have reached this level, it is important to sustain it! Keep practising the techniques your have learnt on any reading material that you lay your hands on till it becomes a habit. Once you have completely eliminated your original reading style and techniques, and adapted to this new technique you can be rest assured that this habit is there to stay.

The countless benefits of speed reading do not require any elaboration. So what are you waiting for?  Use any of the sources available and get started on speed-reading today.

Quicksilver Reading provides speed reading courses for individuals and groups.  Our speed reading training will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.

To answer these questions you have to understand the role of speed in the reading process. Research has showed that there is in fact a close relationship between speed and retention. Furthermore as speed decreases comprehension decreases as well. For many people, who read slowly, a word-by-word focus and over-analysis are the main causes of slow reading. Focusing and trying to understand the meaning of every single word you read will decrease comprehension.

It is really all about concentration.  Our brains work better if we tackle most jobs with alacrity. Don’t confuse this with carelessness! When we drive our cars, we are more alert if we drive at the maximum speed allowed by law. Dawdling along in the slow lane will make us worse driving, not better.

Speed reading allows individuals to increase the rate at which they read. As you concentrate better, so gradually will your comprehension improve of what you read.  If we can’t remain focused, we don’t get good comprehension. It’s like not listening to someone speaking. As a result you don’t understand or remember what the person has been talking about. Understanding and remembering what you read along with an increase in reading speed will pay huge dividends. Having said all of this, the rate of speed and comprehension will not be the same for everyone as results do vary depending on the method used to increase your speed.

Just reading faster will not translate into increased comprehension. To get the full effect the best method is to learn how to increase reading speed properly by completing a speed reading course. Most individuals who complete a speed reading course will double and often times triple reading speed. The average person reads between 200 – 400 words per minute while the average college student reads between 350 – 500 words per minute. Imagine what you could do if those numbers were doubled or even tripled.  As emphasised above, comprehension is increased when you learn material as fast as your mind works. This is why increasing your reading speed will increase comprehension.

Quicksilver Reading provides speed reading training courses for individuals and groups.  Our speed reading courses will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.

Speed reading programs can be found online such as QuickSilver Reading. Normally, speed reading courses will emphasize different speed reading techniques like chunking and the avoiding regression. Regressions happen when a person goes back over the words they have already read. Speed reading courses will work with a student or person to help them slowly learn how to read faster. They will also help a person avoid fixating on a particular word when they read.

They will let a person know if they are reading one word at a time they will also point out bad habits such as speaking the words as they read. This is called sub-vocalisation. You want to avoid sub-vocalisation as we can think faster than the speed of speech.

These kinds of bad habits impede concentration and slow reading down immensely. Speed reading training will also show you that to read more quickly you need to read in chunks or groups of words and to reduce the amount of sound in the brain. You will never eliminate it altogether.  At first your comprehension will drop, but as with any new skills what was new gradually becomes the norm, the brain adjusts accordingly and speed-reading becomes more and more natural.

The tragedy is that we are all taught to read, as a child, but for no longer than a year. We are then left to get on on our own, and naturally fall into a whole lot of bad habits, such as outlined above. Get rid of these habits, allow better ones to take over and you will be a far better reader for the rest of your life.

Quicksilver Reading provides speed reading training for individuals and groups.  Our speed reading courses will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.

Whether you are reading long, legal or technical documents, books, e-mails, academic papers, reports or articles – the techniques learnt on this course apply to all types of reading. Whether you’re reading for business or enjoyment, on screen or paper, you will gain time and retain and comprehend more.

When we learnt to read, usually many years ago – there was no importance given to efficient reading. If you could read, that was sufficient, but most of us will have picked up bad habits that prevent us from reading quickly and efficiently. Common bad reading habits are to re-read passages many times or sub vocalize – either to try to increase comprehension or because you didn’t really read it in the first place. Another common tendency is to be flicking forward and back along the line, stopping many times.

When we read text the eye must be ‘stationary. For normal reading this ‘stop’ period is about quarter of a second and you could be making as many as 40 eye ‘stops’ on one line! On this seminar you will learn the technique to make as few as 4 eye ‘stops’- a key way to increase reading speed.

This reduction in eye movement will lessen eye fatigue and also lower eye strain. This, combined with more controlled ‘eye progression’, will improve both understanding and comprehension – from between 60% to over 80% during the course.

When reading, we tend to only have only one reading style – we do not read differently for different situations. Perhaps you really need to understand the absolute detail of a complicated document or you may just want a general idea of content, or to see if the content is relevant to you. Each situation requires different techniques. The seminar will show you how to adapt your reading technique for any reading material or media.

Our seminars will also show how to reduce mind wandering, increase understanding and lessen the time required to absorb long or complex reading material. This will help hold attention on long documents extracting information that could otherwise be neglected. Your reading becomes more focused, eye strain reduced and comprehension improved.

Quicksilver provide speed reading training for either half a day or on our one day course.  Our speed reading courses will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.

An especially long novel also lends itself to a varied pace of reading.  Take Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” illustration.  When you first open the novel you will have to read slowly.  It will pay to jot down the names and relationships of the leading characters.  Then as you read further into the book, you will find that you can consciously increase your rate.  Perhaps you will want to slow down again for some of the detailed descriptions of battle scenes.  Other parts will be easy to read more rapidly.  It would be foolish to plod along at the same methodical rate all the way through.

You should use a varied rate whenever you are looking up reference material.  It would be absurd to read through an entire book on Greek history just to find information on the Golden Age.  The best method would be to skim through the book until you came to the material relating to your subject.

You will find that you will be under a decided handicap if you keep to one rate of reading.  It may be useful for certain kinds of work but it certainly is not the best reading for all purposes.

Before you begin to read, say to yourself: Why am I reading this?  Then choose the method and rate of reading which best suits your purpose.  Finally read with keen interest and good attention.  If you follow these suggestions you will find your reading effectiveness immeasurably increased.

Quicksilver Reading provides speed reading training courses for individuals and groups.  Our speed reading courses will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.

Rapid reading should be done if you are merely skimming to locate information to a specific problem, or if you just wish to ascertain the general trend of thought of the author.  Certainly if you are reviewing familiar material or reading to gain a general impression of the content you should also read rapidly.

About 90 per cent of modern novels can be read as rapidly as possible.  There are some passages in these novels, of course, that will necessitate reducing the rate.  But you should be able to make that adjustment easily.  If you are reading fictional work for the pleasure of the story itself, you need not dwell overlong on descriptive or philosophic passage.  This is not the case, however, on the works of first-rate American authors.

Take the novels of John Updike or Saul Bellow.   They merit slow, analytical and careful reading.  Most contemporary works can be read at a top speed and with a high degree of accuracy or comprehension.

In general your purpose in reading should depend on the nature of the material and your reason for reading it.

Quicksilver Reading provides speed reading training courses for individuals and groups.  Our speed reading courses will ensure that you retain more, concentrate more and minimise mind-wandering.