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How to Increase Reading Speed: 10 Best Methods in 2025

Reading too slowly can prevent students from keeping up with the academic schedule. In my extensive career as an English language teacher and tutor, I’ve learned that the speed with which children read is not set in stone. In this article, I’ve compiled 10 efficient strategies on how to increase reading speed without compromising comprehension. My decades-long experience shows that these methods really work, even for students with learning disabilities.

Key points

• The reading speed of your child is not a given; it can be increased with the right techniques.
• Working with a dedicated, 1:1 tutor who uses personalized materials is the best way to increase reading speed.
• You can use additional efficient methods to supplement reading tutoring for even faster results.

How can I improve my reading level fast?

You can improve your reading level fast by practicing daily, expanding your sight word vocabulary, and avoiding distractions during reading time. Learning how to skim and increase your horizontal peripheral vision can also help.

Looking for an entertaining way of how to improve speed reading and comprehension for your child?

💡Working with a Brighterly reading tutor helps students in grades 1-9 boost both the speed with which they read and their level of comprehension. This is done through 1:1 sessions with experienced, friendly tutors who make learning effective and fun.

How to increase reading speed: 10 effective strategies

• Work with a reading tutor
• Try skimming
• Give scanning a shot
• Practice repeated reading
• Track words with a pointer or a finger
• Build your sight word vocabulary
• Practice reading on a daily basis
• Expand your horizontal peripheral vision span
• Minimize distractions during reading time
• Get books with more spacing between letters and colored overlays

#1 Increase reading speed with a reading tutor

Age: 6-15 years

Best for: All children who’d like to read faster and understand more

The Brighterly reading program offers 1:1 reading tutoring and personalized lessons for grades 1-9. The curriculum aligns with the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and school requirements across the US. The reading level of each new student, including speed and comprehension, is assessed during a free first session, after which the reading materials and exercises get adapted to the child’s current level and learning goals.

How to increase reading speed and comprehension with Brighterly reading tutor

As the best reading program for kids, Brighterly reading tutors focus on building core literacy skills such as vocabulary development, which helps increase reading speed in an effortless and fun way. Tutors select texts not only according to the child’s reading level but also based on their interests and preferences, so students are excited to join each session to learn more about their favorite subject. What’s more is that tutors are equally enthusiastic as Brighterly carefully selects professionals with a passion for teaching in addition to years of experience.

👇Here’s what Brighterly reading tutors say:

Benefits of Brighterly reading tutoring for increasing reading speed

• Highly interactive, personalized 1:1 sessions 

Brighterly reading sessions emphasize individualization and interactivity in order to grab children’s attention and produce real results. The trained teachers use interactive techniques that avoid tutoring from turning into a boring monologue. To the contrary, sessions are filled with practice, lively discussions, questions, and answers.

• Highly knowledgeable, yet fun tutors 

All Brighterly tutors hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree and have 5-15 years of experience in teaching the subject. Each tutor is carefully matched with the student. After an initial assessment, the tutor develops a personalized learning plan that reflects the student’s grade, reading level, interests, and aspirations. This helps improve reading speeds, deepen comprehension, and learn new knowledge.

• Affordable pricing 

With Brighterly, parents and students benefit from an affordable price that starts at only $17.40/lesson with an annual subscription. This ensures that children can take as many tutoring sessions as they need to reach their desired reading speed without this turning into a financial burden for the family.

🤩Watch the video below to see parts of an actual Brighterly reading session and understand why kids love the program:

#2 Increase reading speed with skimming

Age: 8-14 years

Best for: Strong readers dealing with informational texts & building learning skills

How to increase speed of reading with skimming

Skimming is a popular method that helps learners extract more information from a text in less time. This is a structured technique where you read the first couple of paragraphs of a text after which you read in full only the first (topic) sentence of each paragraph before quickly going through the remainder of the paragraph.

Skimming is particularly useful for older students who deal with longer texts and need to get a general understanding to be able to discuss topics and answer questions.

#3 Increase reading speed with scanning

Age: 8-14 years

Best for: Students who need to navigate long textbooks & prepare for exams

How to improve reading speed with scanning

Scanning is a speed reading practice that I recommend to students in grades 3-9. While it is similar to skimming, there are important differences. When scanning, you move your eyes over the text to locate specific information, such as characters or a setting, quickly. This helps save time and focus only on the details that you need from the book.

#4 Increase reading speed with guided repeated reading

Age: 6-12 years

Best for: Young students who read slowly or lack reading fluency

How to increase my reading speed with guided repeated reading

My list of tips for achieving a good reading speed continues with a simple technique known as guided repeated reading or rereading. This means that a student reads the same text several times, following these guidelines:

• Reading aloud with their natural voice so that the teacher can monitor pronunciation
• Receiving support from the teacher when needed
• Getting continuous feedback from the instructor in the process to improve speed and accuracy

Guided repeated reading helps in improving reading fluency in general and reading speed in specific. That’s why it’s a smart strategy for kids who are behind their grade level.

#5 Increase reading speed by tracking words with a pointer or a finger

Age: 5-9 years

Best for: Early readers learning to track & students with attention difficulties

How to speed up reading by tracking words with a pointer or a finger

The Tracker-and-Pacer method is a widely used strategy that helps young students, as well as students with attention deficit, increase the number of speed reading words per minute. The technique is simple. The student uses their finger, pen, or another sharp object to track the line they are reading and pace themselves.

The approach is so effective because it helps avoid distraction and regression.

#6 Increase reading speed by building your sight word vocabulary

Age: 5-10 years

Best for: Beginner readers working on automatic word recognition

How to improve your reading speed by building your sight word vocabulary

Looking for another strategy on how to increase WPM reading speed for young children who are still inexperienced readers?

Another way to develop fast reading habits in your child is to help them expand their sight word vocabulary. Sight words refer to the words that you are able to recognize automatically without the need to read them letter by letter. As a student is visually familiar with more words on the paper or the screen, they naturally start reading faster.

#7 Increase reading speed by practicing reading on a daily basis

Age: 5-15 years

Best for: All students, especially during the summer & other vacations

How to increase reading speed for students by practicing reading on a daily basis

Arguably, the best way to improve your reading speed is through continuous practice. Students need to allocate at least 20-30 minutes per day to reading, every day. Regular reading grows vocabulary, builds an inner reading process, and turns reading into one of the healthy daily habits. All these factors contribute to increasing speed, accuracy, comprehension, and overall fluency.

Indeed, this is one of the most frequently recommended techniques on how to improve my reading speed on Reddit. Many platform users swear by ongoing reading practice as the best suggestion for boosting speed.

👇Here’s what one Reddit user says on the topic:

👌Here’s one more user sharing the same recommendation:

Daily reading is particularly important during the summer vacation to prevent summer slide and avoid reverting to slow reading. Families  can  enjoy the  benefits  of summer  reading programs and online apps that offer personalized materials to continue working on reading skills during the break.

#8 Increase reading speed by expanding your horizontal peripheral vision span

Age: 9-14 years

Best for: Students with decoding skills & reading capabilities who want to improve efficacy

How to improve reading speed by expanding your horizontal peripheral vision span

Looking for yet another strategy on how to increase your reading speed?

A technique that works for older students who have already developed reading skills and want to work on reading faster is to expand their horizontal peripheral vision span. Untrained readers practice central focus – which means that they don’t use their peripheral vision – and in this way lose 50% of words per fixation (the time between moving their eyes). By unlocking your peripheral vision, you gain the potential to see and read more words at once, which increases your reading speed.

To grow your peripheral vision, you have to do exercises, such as moving your eyes in the shape of the number eight. In addition, it helps using a finger or a pointer to guide your eyes during reading.

Actually, the PX Project proves that you can increase your reading speed by an average of 386% over the course of 20 minutes by applying three simple techniques, one of them being expanding your peripheral vision span.

#9 Increase reading speed by minimizing distractions during reading time

Age: 5-14 years

Best for: All students, particularly those with attention challenges or sensory sensitivities

How to improve my reading speed by minimizing distractions during reading time

Students, especially young ones, are easily distracted during study and reading time. This means that they lose the meaning, forget where they’ve reached, and need to reread the same sentence over and over again.

That’s why one of the simplest and yet most effective methods to help them go through books faster is to provide them with a quiet, conducive environment where they can focus without unnecessary noise and movement.

#10 Increase reading speed with more spacing between letters and colored overlays

Age: 10-19 years

Best for: Students with dyslexia

 

How to increase the reading speed of your child with more spacing between letters and colored overlays

I conclude this guide with a strategy that targets children with dyslexia. A study shows that books with extra large spacing between the letters and colored overlays help individuals with dyslexia read faster and more accurately.

Generally speaking, larger print, more spacing, and strategically used colors can benefit young readers, too.

How long does it take to increase reading speed?

It takes a few weeks to start noticing the first signs of faster reading. Within a few months, you can read significantly faster.

Ultimately, the required time depends on a number of factors:

• Initial reading speed
• Strategies applied
• The effort exercised by a student
• The presence of any learning disabilities

To be successful in this endeavor, you have to be stubborn and consistent and to put deliberate effort into improving your reading speed. Working with a private tutor can considerably accelerate the process and enhance the results.

Conclusion: Improving reading speed with consistency

These 10 strategies can help students of different grades and with different needs increase their reading speed. My practice shows that these methods usually work best when applied in combination. For example, reading daily while growing your sight word vocabulary and practicing peripheral vision expansion can help you achieve better and faster results than any one of the three techniques alone.

If you want your child to start reading quickly and comprehending more, without adding any stress to them, the best option is the Brighterly reading program. Their tutors bring years of experience to deliver fun, personalized, 1:1, online sessions at the time convenient for your child. Materials are individually designed to meet the exact needs and interests of your child to help them improve their reading speed.

With Brighterly, your young reader benefits from:

✅Interactive, live, 1:1 tutoring

✅Personalized reading materials

✅Alignment with the Common Core standards

✅Affordable pricing with no hidden fees

Ready to help your child learn to read faster? Try Brighterly for free. Book  free reading  lesson to unlock access to real-time, customized, 1:1 reading tutoring.