Student's Question of the Week
Student's Question of the Week
Q: How to simply be FASTER when doing in-class reading and writing?
A. Having a visual-motor processing deficit can interfere quite a bit with the speed of reading and writing. As we know, this is clerical speed of a perceptual motor nature; it is not a measure of higher order thinking abilities. There may be other reasons for feeling slow as a reader or writer, too, depending on your learning profile. Another possible reason has to do with processing language, and it is a pretty complex pathway ranging from simple perceptual input to higher order thinking involving the meaning of the symbols you have deciphered.
This answer is focussing only on the visual-motor aspect. While the brain's way of working isn't going to change instantly, it is capable of improving. In other words, I won't wake up tomorrow as a black belt kickboxer after doing one videotape (in fact, I may wake up quite sore indeed), but I can improve my visual-motor speed little by little. Kickboxing is an example of an activity using large kinesthetic motor movements, and that is a little different than the small tactile movements required by reading and writing.
Try going to this jigsaw puzzle site on the internet, and put together one of the puzzles in their gallery. You can select into how many pieces you want the picture to be divided, and as you try to match pieces online, a timer lets you know how long you are taking.
It is really fun because you can upload your own photos and send them to your friends as puzzles. You can also work to improve your own time on a given puzzle. Try it and see if you like it, and if it pushes you to make yourself move a bit more quickly. This may transfer to your speed of reading and writing.
Compensatory Strategies: For reading assignments in a class with computers, you might access the screen reader, and the online editing software for checking spelling and grammar. For in class assignments, using a manual spellchecker can assist with spelling as well as provide a dictionary and thesaurus for quick reference. Reading and writing can be done more efficiently by using a strategy, such as RAP for paraphrasing, DISSECT for decoding, SQ3R for reading & studying, Visualizing & Verbalizing for comprehension, and the steps of TOWER for writing.
Self-Identification and Accommodations: Be sure to identify yourself as a student requiring extended time on tests to your teacher if that is one of your approved accommodations so in-class written essays and tests are given with extra time, and are not testing your disability (processing speed) rather than your knowledge and abilities.