Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension
After 25 years of working in Israel and the USA in improving reading abilities in people with learning challenges I put my experiences into a video. I have seen students of all ages, even 90 years old increase their reading speed and comprehension from 10% to over 100%.
Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read?
Do you forget what you just read?
Are you a slow reader?
Do you get stuck on hard words?
Do you have ADHD and concentration problems?
Do you have problems completing an article or book?
Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better.
Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges , Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion, the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way.
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From the memoir " Leaving Home , Going Home , Returning Home",
I share my experiences working with multimodality biofeedback and learning strategies to help students with reading challenges , possibly ADHD and anxiety too.
Here are two chapters
The case of the fifth grader who whispered
When I think back on the many children that completed my Being in
Control program, three clients and the challenges they faced stick out in
my mind as key examples that reflect the power of my program. The
first student, Channa, came from an ultra-orthodox Jewish girl’s school
and was in 5th grade. Her father, an official in the school, was a great
person who made his child’s education paramount, and he helped see
to it that there was no lack of remedial help for his child within the
school. Despite all this support, Channa’s problem with learning perplexed
the teachers, and so her special case made it to my clinic.
Channa was a quiet and sweet-looking young girl, but very bashful.
Immediately, I became aware that Channa only speaks in quiet whispers.
Her father told me that her psychological evaluations did not
show that she had ADD, yet he suspected there was something wrong
with her concentration. Even though she was a good student, he felt
Channa did not reach her potential in some of her courses. This
turned out to be a common complaint of parents that sought out my
help: the child was studious, attentive, and bright, but “did not reach
their potential” – a code phrase for not having the grades their parents
thought their children deserved or could achieve. When I first met
her, Channa barely talked to me and did not answer any of my questions.
Instead, she spoke through her father. Being ultra-orthodox,
she probably did not have much, if any, opportunity to speak to men
Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home
outside her family. Partly from this experience, I found that using a
slightly passive approach in biofeedback via graphic and video programs
was necessary where practitioner-client interaction was lacking.
For Channa, I went through relaxation and concentration exercises
for a couple of sessions, talking very little and letting the programs
show the way. Soon, Channa brought one of her teachers with her to
observe, and the teacher told me there was already a marked improvement
in Channa’s general class participation since she began working
with me. Then, in the following session, Channa brought her sister,
whom I let experience the program together with Channa – a practice
that I maintain whenever siblings pay a visit. I couldn’t help but
notice then that when Channa talked to her sister, she didn’t whisper.
These sessions, in turn, served as evidence that as a student’s general
well-being improves, that student will feel better about him or herself.
Building this self-confidence led to increased class participation.
After these early sessions, I began to instruct Channa in building
accelerated learning skills and study strategies. When starting
speed-reading and reading retention skills, I had Channa bring one
of her favorite books to me to read from. I wanted to check both
how many words per minute Channa read and how much she could
comprehend from that text. Channa chose a siddur, or Jewish ritual
prayer book, with her. The Orthodox Jews pray three times a day,
so it comes as no surprise that the prayers become ingrained in their
children from a very early age. She read the prayers aloud just fine.
Good! I then wanted Channa to read from a children’s fairy tale
book, which was something she was less familiar with. Suddenly, she
began to whisper again, so much so that I could hardly hear her. Her
dad, present for each session, intervened and asked Channa to speak
up louder. She read the passage again, and to my chagrin, she could
not read the words correctly. I had Channa pick up the siddur again
and read from it, this time letter by letter. Much to our wonder, she
made several errors again, even though we just heard her recite the
same prayers so beautifully just moments ago!
The case of the fifth grader who whispered
What was wrong with this picture, I wondered? Then it came
to me. I asked her father if he was aware that Channa had difficulty
reading. He answered an emphatic “NO!” How could this
be? Previously, she read the prayers well enough, but when asked to
decode the prayer word for word, letter by letter, she could barely
read the first sentence. She must not have read the words the first
time around, I surmised, but rather she had remembered the prayers
by heart. What Channa was doing was relying on her memory to
compensate for her not being able to read well. She did not appear
to struggle to the point of potentially having dyslexia, but perhaps
she just might have had some concentration problems when she
was acquiring reading skills in the earlier grades and at some point
started to lag behind. To make up for this shortcoming, she used
her memory to get by so her teachers and parents would not notice.
As Channa progressed into the older grades, however, she hit
a dead end with this strategy as her reading skills were now being
tested. That is why Channa was whispering. Her mumbling was her
attempt to camouflage her weakness. As a result, no one suspected
that she did not know how to read, but instead were left wondering
why Channa did not speak up in class. Her teachers and her parents
readily identified problematic symptoms of Channa’s behavior, yet
they masked the true obstacle in Channa’s ability to learn.
Children are, and perhaps always have been, under growing pressure
from their parents and school to excel and succeed. Anything
less is construed as an embarrassment. Channa was anything but
dumb, though – after all, who would ever think that a young fifth
grader like her could have everyone fooled, and for so long? In
Channa’s case, I recalled well-known set videos in Israel that taught
reading skills and the alphabet from scratch. I had her father get
Channa a set to bring Channa back to the basics and with enough
practice and guidance, Channa soon learned how to read just as well
as her peers.
The case of the alchemist
Dov was an attractive, tall and blue-eyed 17-year-old Sabra with
gingi (reddish) hair who could have easily been a male model if he
wanted to. He approached me with what seemed like a simple question:
“Can I go to college next year?” An American guidance counselor
he was working with had told him that there were now colleges
in the USA that catered to students with learning disabilities. Dov
would otherwise not have considered attending college. If there ever
was someone who did not look like they had a learning disability, it
was Dov (proof that looks don’t really tell). I asked Dov why didn’t
he just try applying to college in Israel, and he told me that he had
not lived in Israel for many years, but instead actually grew up in
Africa. English was as much his language as Hebrew. His father had
a business there since Dov was young and had only recently returned
to Israel. His mother, who once came to a session with Dov, wore
the most beautiful African blue diamond you could ever expect to
set eyes upon. Business must have been good. “Then what’s the
problem, Dov? Why wouldn’t you succeed in college?” He raises his
head and says, “I never read a whole book in my life and no one can
tell me why!”
I stare at Dov in disbelief. I never met a student who said anything
like that before. Dov wondered aloud if he could still make it to college
or if it would be a waste of time. He then asked me if I could
solve his reading problem, keeping in mind that college starts in the
USA after the summer. I saw myself in Dov’s earnest eyes when he
Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home: A Hebrew American’s Sojourn in the Land of Israel
Authored by Jason Alster
List Price: $18.99
6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
308 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1439258750 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1439258759
LCCN: 2009911178
BISAC: Travel / Middle East / Israel
Whether you dream of moving across the country or to another continent, or you are returning home after a prolonged absence, Jason Alster’s Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home is an illuminating and inspiring read. Alster paints a picture of his move to Israel, his palette of words reflecting the tones and hues of this Mediterranean nation, but the message he conveys could be applied to any move, to any change from one place to another. Why? Because this book is about the courage to change, to take risks, and to trust oneself regarding that place we wish to call home. How does one adjust to a new language, to a culture decidedly different from the one left behind? What new lessons must we learn? Is there a sense of isolation and longing, or is it possible to become part of that new place and create a sense of community and belonging? According to the author, the answer is a definite yes! Page after page, readers will discover the keys—and occasionally the secrets—to fitting in.
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