I still have problems with reading sometimes, but when I was in school it was much more serious.
I still wonder how information got into my brain
The advice would depend on your possible underlying condition or on the nature of the challenges.
I can't really come to a conclusion based on your post. I can describe issues I had, you can see if it sounds familiar:
- if letters were like the Times New Roman or similar, it was harder to separate the words in my mind. With this type of font I had the most amount of issues. But I could have it with any font or writing style.
- sometimes when I read I just saw a mass of letters rather than separate words and when u was trying to separate them I couldn't remember what I just read.
- I often misread words or skip words.
Those are just a few issues.
My solutions at that time:
- read one line at a time while keeping the rest of the text coveted by white sheet of paper
- read out loud
- speed read (if I was too overwhelmed to use other techniques), meaning reading quickly on diagonal letting your mind capture important words. If I was able to focus I could do it, but sometimes I would loose focus and miss important bits if information. This method requires practice, and I wouldn't consider it as a replacement for reading every word.
- read one sentence at a time then imagine it, see it or analyse what it means, try to see if you know what it means or whether you require additional information to understand it. This method also require practice but it's worth it, and in theory, it should help you to read without analysis of each sentence.
- read for a short period at a time, for example you could try to time after how many minutes you start losing focus. And maybe try to read for that period of time (possibly also utilizing other methods at the same time) and then take a short break (3-5 minutes), after a break start over. Later you might want to increase amount of reading time to see if you can focus.
I mostly utilized speed reading, I didn't have enough patience to keep practice the other ones. But I'm sure if I had appropriate support, I would.
My solution now:
Read everything (or most of the time) in electronic form, because this way I can change font, background and text size.
It's easier for me to read when there's less contrast between background and font color and when there's sufficient distance between letters, words and lines.
