Instant NLP help for slow reading

The student said:

“I am a college freshman and often struggle with slow reading. I started reading when I was 4 and always loved it. I started to be more affected by the speed at which I read when I was in 4th grade I read very slowly, but I understood everything I read. When I was in high school, I started to figure out how my brain processed things. I do very well at memorizing things because I imagine them in my mind. Colors and shapes come to mind. mind for each word, date, or number I confront. Then, when I go to remember the thing, it is a sequence of colors, not an actual word. This, I realized, was the cause of my slow reading. I had to read each word and turn it into a color/shape. I’m in college now and my teachers have little sympathy for slow reading. I struggle a lot because the only way I can memorize things is by imagining them, converting them, and processing the information, but at the moment I do that I am very late I want to know if something happens to me or if this is how I learn best. Is there anything I can do to convert things faster or can I somehow make the synapses more efficient?”

And I advised him:

What can you do to convert things faster? You must use your visualization to see the words as images = words instead of colors Prayed shapes [which will, no wonder, slow you down!].

Start by looking at shapes like you normally do. This is familiar and you’re good at it.

Now start learning to see the shapes of words = how they look when written.

For this you have to observe a lot and carefully. Look at how the letters look and then the words. Start with simple 3-letter words like cat, dog, fox, bed, pen, etc. Write each word on a separate A4 blank paper, place the paper in front of your face at or slightly above eye level, and look at the written word for 15 seconds. Then close your eyes. Do you see the word? Or has it faded quickly? Or do you see something else? If you see the word, how do you see it? Are the letters big enough to see comfortably but not so big that you can’t see the whole word? Are they on a background of a contrasting color? Are they in upper or lower case? And if you tried to see the letters in the other case, would it be less or more comfortable? Experiment with this.

Can you spell the word back and forth while you see it? If you can, you definitely see the word, which is important!

Is there something really wrong with you? Yes! You have developed the wrong habit of visualizing to see words. To see words you need to see words. Seeing shapes or colors is the wrong tool for this job. This is the only thing that happens to you. Absolutely nothing else. And you may change the way your brain works! Being present in the moment and really aware of working with yourself is the only way to go. Once you start to see words like words instead of colors or shapes, your reading speed will improve quickly! Speed ​​readers recognize whole words as blocks in the back of their brains, not letter by letter. Slow readers read slowly, because if they can see the letters, they look at them letter by letter. You need to see whole words and once you get good at it with practice your brain will automatically send them to its rear end.

Your fantastic memory is another excellent asset that you can use here. Photographic memory is the best type of memory one can have, especially for seeing words! So when you write a word on a blank A4 paper, bring it to your eye level, look at it, take a picture of that word in your imagination. Teach yourself to see the word as if it were a picture in your head. When you see the word as a photo, you see it as a block that I mentioned earlier.

Practice. All these exercises here should only be done initially until seeing the words as blocks becomes automatic for you. Once it does, you’ll be reading so fast that you won’t have time for all of this. This will help you start on the right track: teach the brain a new way of thinking.

And remember these tips:

Always hold any page you are reading in front of your face at or slightly above eye level. That’s where your visual field is. Never hold your reading material on your lap so that you have to look down to read it! Never! Because there you would be in your feelings which is the wrong tool for a visual work like reading!

Every time you read, sit with both feet firmly on the ground. This will give you grounding and an added sense of calm, security, and protection.

When you read, try your best not to subvocalize, that is, not to say the words in your head. This would also slow you down. If you don’t, great. If you do, gradually teach yourself not to.