History of Speed Reading

It all began with an experiment conducted byimproves considerably but it did not have lasting
educational specialists researching a topic calledeffect. It took another ten years for a school
visual acuity. These specialists designed a machineteacher to unravel the mystery behind retaining
which could flash images at varying speeds on athe reading speed gained. While forcing herself to
screen. The experiment involved flashing picturesread faster, she is said to have brushed off the
of air planes on the screen displayed forpages of the book in desperation. It was then
participants. The pictures flashed were large in sizethat she notices that the sweeping motion of her
at the beginning of the experiment. As thehand made her actually read smoother. Later she
experiment progressed, the size was graduallystarted using her hand as a pacer to read and this
reduced and speed of display increased. Themethod was christened Wood Method after her.
participants were trained and at the end of theThis was later called Reading Dynamics. It was
training the participants could identify minutethis school teacher who coined the name Speed
pictures of different air planes displayed only forReading.
one-five-hundredth of a second. The results ofThere are lot of courses and books designed to
the experiment gave birth to speed readingenhance the reading speed of a reader. Some
techniques.even claim to help you attain reading speed of
The US Air force was the first to tap the results10,000 words per minute. Such courses not only
of this experiment. They redid the experimentpromise to increase the reading speed but also
with words and found that an average humanincrease the reading comprehension.
could read about four words flashed forSpeed reading is not a mystery as it may sound.
one-five-hundredth of a second. This led to theIt is a combination of various reading techniques
conclusion that training could improve readingintegrated in an impeccable manner to improve
speeds and also that reading gives way tothe reading speed and reading comprehension.
skimming words with advanced training.With higher speed of reading memory retention
The improvement in reading speed is because ofalso improves.
the improvement in visual processing. The trainingThe techniques that lead one to become a speed
to improve reading speed involved techniques toreader are easy to follow and mainly tame the
train the eye to move in a paced manner.movement of the eyes. You should be interested
However, initial experiments in a classroom likein reading and should have a determination to
environment showed that once out of thebecome an ace reader. You can use any of the
created environment readers slid back to theircourses available or enroll yourself for a
original reading speed.classroom session. However if you want to start
The early experiments conducted did prove thatoff from the comfort of your home check out
by improving visual processing, reading speedthe speed reading software.