Tag Archives: Improve Reading Skills

The Professional Benefits of Strong Reading Abilities

September 29, 2024 Admin Staff

Reading habits play a significant role in shaping an individual’s professional growth. Regular engagement with books, articles, and industry-related content enhances knowledge, sharpens critical thinking skills, and fosters a deeper understanding of one’s field. These benefits can lead to improved decision-making, better communication, and greater adaptability in a rapidly changing work environment. Consistent reading not only broadens perspectives but also keeps professionals informed about the latest trends and developments, contributing to long-term success in their careers.

Strong reading abilities offer numerous professional benefits that can significantly impact career success. Here are some key advantages:

Enhanced Knowledge Base

Regular reading contributes to a broad and deep understanding of your industry. Whether it is staying updated on the latest trends, learning about new tools and technologies, or understanding different business strategies, reading helps you build a solid foundation of knowledge. This expanded knowledge base allows you to make informed decisions, contribute meaningfully in discussions, and stay ahead in your field.

Improved Critical Thinking

Reading diverse materials encourages the development of critical thinking skills. By engaging with different viewpoints and complex ideas, you learn to analyze information more effectively and approach problems from various angles. This ability to think critically is essential in the workplace, where sound decision-making often depends on evaluating multiple factors and predicting potential outcomes.

Stronger Communication Skills

Regular reading improves both written and verbal communication. Exposure to a wide range of vocabulary, sentence structures, and writing styles enhances your ability to express ideas clearly and effectively. This translates into more persuasive emails, reports, and presentations, as well as more articulate and confident spoken communication in meetings and discussions.

Increased Creativity

Reading exposes you to ideas and experiences beyond your immediate environment. This exposure can spark creativity by introducing you to new concepts, perspectives, and solutions. Creative thinking is highly valued in the professional world, as it leads to innovative approaches and problem-solving strategies that can set you apart from your peers.

Better Adaptability

In today’s fast-paced work environment, adaptability is key to maintaining relevance and success. Reading regularly keeps you informed about changes and developments within your industry, making it easier to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. This readiness to evolve with your field ensures that you remain competitive and capable of navigating shifts in the professional landscape.

Boosted Professional Confidence

A strong reading habit naturally builds confidence in professional settings. When you are well-read and knowledgeable, you are more likely to participate actively in discussions, present ideas with assurance, and take on new responsibilities with a clear understanding of what is required. This confidence not only enhances your professional presence but also positions you as a reliable and competent team member.

For more information on improving reading skills for professional benefits, visit www.see-n-read.com.

Improve Reading Comprehension, Improve Reading Skill

What Happens to the Brain When You Have Reading Difficulties

April 21, 2017 Marketing 1 Comment

According to the experts at Reading Rockets, it is estimated that about 10 million children worldwide experience some degree of difficulty when learning to read. However, roughly 90 percent of those kids eventually overcome their struggles altogether – provided they receive the appropriate type of training at an early age.

This tells us a number of fascinating things. For starters, there is no “one size fits all” approach to reading. Different kids always learn in different ways. Beyond that, it also suggests that whether or not a person has reading difficulties – along with how they will eventually overcome them – has less to do with the technique itself and is more about how the human brain was designed to visually process information in the first place.

Reading Difficulties and the Brain: What You Need to Know

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, studies have shown that a person’s ability to read is actually tied to certain areas of their brain in a number of fascinating and important ways. As readers become more active when they get older, the automatic recognition center of their brains becomes more active.

This suggests that the ability to read is essentially cyclical – as reading frequency increases, a person gets better at it, which ultimately supports the ability to do it even more.

Brain scans have suggested that people who have difficulty reading also have trouble accessing this automatic recognition center in their brain. Instead, they rely more closely on the phoneme center and the mapping center of their brains to process the words they see on a page.

This naturally takes a longer amount of time to do, which is why poor readers are typically also slow readers. This can be incredibly frustrating to such readers in a way that is not entirely their fault. It also explains why many students begin to exhibit signs and symptoms of reading disabilities at an early age.

The Benefits of Learning Tools

The See-N-Read® MemoryMark™ tool is just one example of a learning tool that supports a person’s ability to read by supporting the natural way their brain is trying to work. This tool’s design is rooted in the fact that, for someone with reading difficulties, staying on the proper line and recognizing words do not happen automatically.

The See-N-Read® MemoryMark™ tool helps readers maintain focus on the proper line of text and enables them to easily re-read text without losing their place. It has a cut out clear window that allows highlighting or underlining of key words or phrases without moving the tool off of the page. This, in turn, supports readers as they rely more heavily on the phoneme center of their brains, enabling them to process meaning and context at their own pace. Mental energy is spent on comprehending meaning instead of on keeping the place or deciphering individual words.

Additional research has suggested that, over time, this type of support (along with other techniques like phonemic awareness) actually leads to an increase in a person’s ability to automatically recognize words as they see them. A tool like MemoryMark™ will actually support those with reading difficulties by using the way the human brain works to strengthen the recognition center, slowly reducing the effects of those reading difficulties over time.

The Department of Health and Human Services also reported that after undergoing additional training, the brain images of people who once had significant reading difficulties slowly began to resemble scans of people who have always been good readers.

To that end, these types of learning tools don’t just make it easier for a person to mitigate the issues associated with their reading problems – they make it possible to slowly overcome those problems altogether.

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Learning to Read with My Brain

September 10, 2015 Sylvia Smith 2 Comments

An informational blog for parents, teachers, students and those interested in current trends in thinking and learning

Blog Focus: A Year in the Life of a First Grader (Who is An Unconventional Learner)

During the 2015 – 2016 school year I will be following my little friend Jimmy’s experiences in 1^st Grade. Jimmy’s Mom left him at his new school today with a big smile on his face and walked away with a lump in her throat. Her biggest hope is that her son will have a good year…just like all mothers across the country! Only, for her, she is keenly aware that Jimmy faces some challenges in school that her first son did not have to overcome.

Last year during Kindergarten, Jimmy’s mother noticed that he was having trouble focusing, becomes overwhelmed by multiple items on a page, listening, sitting still, following directions, and completing assignments on time. While Mom realized that Jimmy was still only a Kindergartener, his actions seemed to require more effort than his classmates (or his older brother at the same stage). Jimmy was quite verbal and alert but seemed to be unconventional in how he learned and expressed his ideas to others. A side effect of his unconventionality in how he learns was that Jimmy would squirm, not focus, and seemed to avoid completing his work, which often manifested itself as behavior problems. Jimmy thought that he did not have any friends and that he “hated” school. The strange thing is that before he entered formal schooling Jimmy was curious and very talkative. In fact, his vocabulary and thought processes seemed above his age. He was a happy kid that thought he was a “super hero”…no problem!

Sound familiar? The number of kids entering school today that are not sure they have the right stuff is huge. These kids look and sound normal, but something is going on that is not quite right. Learning to read may present major challenges for them! The key is getting help early in order for these children to grow up embracing who they are and having the skills and confidence to succeed in school and in life.

Background & Impact:

Jimmy’s mom is the angel on his shoulder. She recognized subtle signs of issues, which caused Jimmy to act out at home and school that raised a red flag for her. As a former teacher, she understood that sometimes kids’ actions are the road map to finding out what is going on inside them. So, she set more time aside to work and play with him at home to give him the little boost that she thought would help him. However, Jimmy seemed to become more moody and unhappy as the school year progressed. His confidence was very low and mom noticed that if Jimmy was asked to do near-point work as in reading or writing, he began to act silly or obstinate to get out of completing the task. “Pay attention” was a commonly used phrase.

Mom knew his vision (acuity) was okay because she had it checked before he entered Kindergarten. Nevertheless, in the Spring she decided to have his vision checked by a vision therapist to see if he had trouble visually processing and/or interpreting what he was seeing, both at home and in school. This began a journey to help Jimmy get back on track.

The vision specialist found that Jimmy did indeed have visual processing issues. His eyes did not work together well and he tended to have a “lazy” left eye. The vision therapist prescribed special glasses, vision exercises (including large and small movement exercises) and using a See-N-Read® Reading Tool when reading. He is now visiting the therapist every three months to check on his progress. It has only been a few months and Jimmy is clearly progressing, despite some frustrated (and frustrating for Mom) moments. The goal is to gradually improve Jimmy’s eye control and coordination so he will be able to more easily complete near-point work. Just as importantly, he needs help to understand that he processes differently from his friends, but that he can process and learn!

The diagnosis helped to explain why Jimmy was confused or overwhelmed by multiple pictures or activities on a page, had trouble completing his assignments on time, has “messy” writing, was less coordinated and seemed a bit clumsy. Each of Jimmy’s visual issues were not extreme but, taken together, they were beginning to negatively impact Jimmy’s performance and, more importantly, his confidence. AND, all this has happened while Jimmy is still in Kindergarten!

Getting Your Ducks in A Row:

Jimmy’s mom took the proactive path to help her son. Armed with the understanding of Jimmy’s visual processing challenges before school began, she made an appointment with Jimmy’s 1^st grade teacher to discuss how Jimmy processes information, the actions she was taking outside the classroom and pass on suggestions provided by the vision therapist for helping her son in the classroom. To the credit of Jimmy’s 1^st grade teacher, she was very open and appreciated mom coming in to talk with her about Jimmy. Now, both mom and Jimmy’s 1^st grade teacher are working together toward helping the new school year be a happy and successful experience.

“No-Shame Processing™”:

“No-Shame Processing™” is an approach to thinking and learning that acknowledges all forms of processing and prepares learners to understand how they learn and to grow a sense of confidence in who they are and in their individual learning processes.

Statistics tell us that a significant number of students are struggling to be successful in school. These students, and often their parents, know that something is not quite right, but are at a loss as to why they have such difficulty learning, especially in the area of reading fluency and comprehension. Some human brains process differently, but they do indeed process information. Learning does take place. The key is to recognize and understand that there is more than one type of processing. “Different” does not equal “bad”. “No-Shame Processing” is a critical concept to understand in order for many learners to successfully break through the learning curve and learn to read.

Parents! Do you (or your child) have trouble following verbal instructions? Need more time to visually process information on a black board or electronic white board because the words/pictures get mixed or jumbled together as a colleague (teacher) talks? Would you like to ask questions but cannot seem to collect your thoughts in a timely manner? Well, you are not alone! Your brain may be processing information in a slightly different…or a very different… manner than your peers. You know you can learn, but you have probably figured out that you have to use “workarounds”; i.e., modify how you function in a traditional environment (e.g., a classroom). The key here is not to stop trying, but to be okay with and actually use your individual information processing style. If kids are facing these same issues, they don’t yet have the experience to develop these “workarounds”. Taking a few basic steps to replace that experience can be a great benefit.

Next Steps:

Unconventional learners™ are not rarities in our school systems; they exist at every intellectual capability level in virtually every classroom at every grade level. These students are not disabled, they are unconventional learners hidden under the mass of conventional curriculum: the rush to complete material on a schedule for the entire class, unbending application of standardized assessment rules in our schools, large class sizes, etc. These students are hidden because their performance levels are not low enough to qualify for an individualized education plan (IEP); they do enough to get by or they figure out workarounds so the system does not even notice, let alone adjust to, their unconventional learning processes.

Jimmy is just such an unconventional learner. He is a smart child…but he does need support to understand how he learns and tools to help him perform at his best.

Please check back with us throughout this school year as we chronicle Jimmy’s first grade year in school.

**In our next blog posting, I will share different tips and techniques that can be used by unconventional learners to improve their processing and help them to retain information.**

Thought Questions:

Have you or do you have children who struggling with reading or comprehension but in the larger scheme of things function well in day-to-day activities? Yet…there is a little voice that negatively impacts your confidence because you read slowly, have difficulty remembering things, or feel like you are fooling everyone around you? If you have figured out “workarounds” that have helped you to overcome learning challenges please let us know. Share your tips with us and it may help others…