course is often offered at the adult school or in the junior college.
Stress is placed upon speed and upon developing increased fluency in
reading business and professional journals and books. Generally,
those who enroll in such a course are average or better readers who
recognize that with a little help they can develop their skills to a
point where they can keep up with the flood of literature that keeps
pouring in on them in this age of rapid change. The big problem
with this group is developing flexibility for they tend to be one
speed readers.

 There are a number of self-instruction courses in develop-
mental reading. Those put out by reputable companies have much to
commend them. Many take a basically sound approach to the problem.
However, there is some quackery in this area and the course material
should be examined carefully before recommendations are made. Where
fantastic promises are made (whether by those offering self-help
courses or by those offering special, sometimes esoteric, courses
for a fee), you should check to see if the claims are supported by
well-founded university sponsored research. Beward of any course
that suggests that people can learn to read (not skim) at rates
much above 1000 words per minute. Although leading authorities in
reading have heard of such people, they have not been able to find
any who could READ at such rates while being observed by such
scientific instruments as the Reading Eye (E.D.L.)

 Finally, some schools and libraries provide courses such as
THE GREAT BOOKS. These center around the depth reading of classics
in various fields. While not listed as developmental reading courses,
they are quite effective in developing reading power of adults. How-
ever, most people who take such courses are superior readers with
superior educational backgrounds. Such courses are not for the
average person who is in the earlier phases of developmental reading.


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