A CALL TO ACTION! A PILOT PROGRAM FOR TURNING 3 to 7-YEAR OLDS into NATURAL SPEED READERS
— — AND IT’S FREE!
By George Stancliffe (Author of Speed Reading 4 Kids)
In the past couple of weeks I’ve posted some details of what we know about Natural Speed Readers — who they are, how they learned the skill at such a young age, etc.
I’ve also discussed the fact that a large percentage of Natural Speed Readers were already Speed Readers — before they even entered 1st grade (ie. by age 6). This is a key discovery.
Natural Speed Readers are among the best Speed Readers that exist. That’s why they never quit using their speed reading skills on a daily basis.
(This doesn’t mean that Natural Speed Readers don’t know how to Slow Read like the rest of us. On the contrary. They Slow Read just like anybody else. It’s just that they don’t do it as much of it as others do, because they have more options.)
More options, means more choices, and more flexibility.
What the world needs now, is MORE NATURAL SPEED READERS.
Last week, I produced a video, where I showed a method which one mother used to turn her two daughters into Natural Speed Readers, at the age of three.
This method is so simple, that you can do it today — for only one minute — to introduce Speed Reading to your children & grandchildren. And that may just be enough to be the trigger event that enables them to become Natural Speed Readers!
And it’s FREE.
Of course, the more regularly you introduce your very young children and grandchildren to Speed Reading concepts and principles, the more likely that they will “get it,” and go on to become Natural Speed Readers. Especially if they: 1) are age 6 or less, and 2) can already read.
So, I’ve decided to issue a CALL TO ACTION:
Please forward this article to any person you know who has a child (or a grandchild) under the age of 8, who already knows how to READ. (Or anybody who intends to teach their young child to read before entering into first grade.)
Also, if any of you personally know someone who is already a Natural Speed Reader, please sent this article to them as well. They likely will take an interest in this project, and forward this information to their friends and relatives.
In this article, I’ll condense the basic lesson ideas and concepts available, into one brief, comprehensive article, and try to offer answers to some potential questions that you may have.
ALSO: If you like this article, please watch some of my other articles and videos, or go to one of my websites to learn more (particularly SpeedReading4Kids.com and SpeedReading4Preschoolers.com ).
Most importantly: Try this concept out with your preschool child (one who already knows how to read independently, at least on a beginning level), and give them a chance to become a Natural Speed Reader. Similar methods have already produced two Speed Reading 3-year olds so far. How many more will come of it, if some of us just give it a try?
BTW: Since this lesson plan is experimental, you are welcome to improvise according to what your gut feeling tells you about your own child. Please let me know what works for you, and what doesn’t work for you.
STEP 1: OPEN UP A POWERPOINT FILE ON YOUR COMPUTER.
Type in your child’s favorite story, or an easy children’s story that they are familiar with. Type only one-word-per-page, in very large font. When you are done, you could have a 150-word story that spans 150 pages in the PowerPoint file.
Or you can download one of the pre-made PowerPoint files with a children’s story on it (from www.SpeedReading4Preschoolers.com ).
First, read the story to your child aloud. Discuss the story with interest and expression. Do this each day for several days. Do it until you are confident that your child likes this story and remembers it.
After about a week, let your child know that you will show him/her how to read the story faster, with good understanding.
Briefly (for only 1 minute or so), quickly and repeatedly, depress the forward arrow button of your computer, making the story progress one word forward into the story, each time that you depress the key. Ask your child to look at all the words, and to picture the story in their minds, as if they were watching the story in real life.
Each lesson should only last a minute or so. That’s all. Any longer than that and you’ll bore them. ALSO: This method isn’t rigid. You can quit at any time, for any reason.
STEP 2: AFTER A FEW DAYS, YOUR CHILD SHOULD BE GETTING USED TO UNDERSTANDING THE STORY AT A FASTER RATE.
By “faster rate,” I mean one-word-at-a-time as fast as you can press the button. Maybe 4 words per second, maximum. That’s about 240 words per minute. For a 3-year old just barely reading independently, that’s pretty fast.
What do they learn by going 240 wpm? They learn to read quietly, without having to sound out each word veeeerrry slowly, and without moving their lips (at least, not very much).
While they are reading quickly, at 240 wpm, ask them to view the story in their mind as a movie or a picture.
STEP 3: MULTIPLE WORDS AT A GLANCE
After a few days, perhaps at the 1-week mark, introduce the concept of reading multiple words at-a-glance, by doing a PowerPoint file with about 2–3 words per page. Like the one titled “Cheese, Cheese.”
This is a huge step forward. Once a child starts processing two or more words per glance, they are beginning into heavy-duty Speed Reading. My definition of Speed Reading is this: Learning to see multiple words at a time, and processing them into seeing a movie, or pictures, in your mind.
STEP 4: MOVE UP TO LARGER GROUPS OF WORDS AT A GLANCE
You can practice larger groups of words, in multiple lines per glance, on PowerPoint files. (See this video of The Three Pigs at 2 lines at once).
Of course, by that time your child is up to 4–5words per glance in 2 lines of text (at once), your child may already have mastered this skill and can Speed Read through 2nd and 3rd grade level chapter books — lightning fast. He/she may already be progressing more quickly than you can anticipate how to prepare the next lessons.
If so, then great for you!
WHAT TO EXPECT
Am I promising that every child will become a Natural Speed Reader, reading 2,000 words per minute with a photographic memory?
No. But I believe that some will. Likely, many will be reading 500 words per minute with pretty good understanding. That also is amazing. 500 wpm is also Speed Reading! Did you know that less than 1% of all College Graduates can read over 450 words per minute, with good understanding?
Of course, some kids may not be interested. If this happens to your child, don’t fret. Just wait 6 months and try it again. Sometimes the timing just isn’t right.
Overall, you’ll see many children produce miraculous results. It’s unheard of for 3–6-year old children to read 500 wpm with good understanding.
Here are some other results that you will likely get:
1. As your child uses the Speed Reading skill on a daily basis, for a few minutes per day, he/she will likely advance his/her reading grade level at the rate of one grade level per month, for at least several months. Ashly (the mother who had taught both of her 3-year old daughters to be Natural Speed Readers) reported that 2 years after learning to Speed Read, both of her daughters were able to read beyond “College level.” They were formally tested and rated at a very high reading level. Each of her daughters are able to read an entire issue of Reader’s Digest magazine (including all of the advertisements) in about 10 minutes — with excellent understanding.
2. “Do I need to be able to Speed Read, in order to succeed in helping my children become Natural Speed Readers?” No. You don’t need to be able to Speed Read to show this to your child. The parents of many/most Natural Speed Readers are not Speed Readers themselves. Once the kids realize how it’s done, they will simply take off on their own. The most important thing that you can do is to encourage your children in this talent, and give them guidance on how to choose good books.
6 kinds of people will benefit from these lesson plans & information:
1. Young children, from ages 3–7 who can already read.
2. Children from ages 8 and up who can already read.
3. Young children ages 1–7 who can’t read, but who have parents who want to take advantage of the “Natural Giftedness” of very young children, by teaching them to read, and then to Speed Read.
4. Parents who don’t have any children, but who know several “smart ones” who would likely benefit from this: They will pass this information along to those who can use it.
5. Parents of older children (ages 8–18) who are ADD, ADHD, Dylsexic and “Gifted & Talented.” These children usually do better than average at Speed Reading, even though they are past the normal age limit of becoming a Natural Speed Reader. You can pass this article on to these parents, so that they can get their children the Speed Reading help that they urgently need.
6. Grandparents or school teachers, who think that this would be a “Fun Project to work on” in their spare time with “their kids.”
— George Stancliffe, author of Speed Reading 4 Kids (now in its 4th edition)