Speed Reading - What Causes Slow-Reading? 

If you find that your rate of reading speed has been decreasing, come back and review the causes listed below. Most of the causes of slow reading can be eliminated simply through recognition of the problem.

• Word-by-word reading. 
• Expanded time of reading each block and increased number of times the eyes goes back to a previous word or sentence. 
• Slowness of recognition and response to the material; slow perceptual reaction time. 
• Vocalization and the need to vocalize in order to achieve comprehension. 
• Faulty eye movements and regression.
• Slow reading habit due to past reading experiences.
• Inattentiveness and absent-mindedness during reading.
• Lack of practice in reading, due simply to the fact that the person has read very little and has limited reading interests so that very little reading is practiced in the daily or weekly schedule. 
• Fear of losing comprehension. 
• Poor recognition of which aspects are important and which are unimportant. 
• The effort to remember everything rather than to remember selectively.

Since these conditions act also to reduce comprehension, increasing the reading rate through eliminating them is likely to result in increased comprehension as well. This is an entirely different matter from simply speeding up the rate of reading without considering if the reader “really” understands what he is reading.

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