SuperReading was developed by Ron Cole and involves a practical approach to better metacognitive reading strategies and, crucially, an ‘eye-hop’ exercise designed to improve the rapid absorption of visual meaning from text. Demand for SuperReading courses has grown dramatically in the last year. Student Finance England has recognised the dramatic impact for dyslexic students and is happy to pay for SuperReading courses through the DSA.

Some dyslexia coordinators at universities have also been proactive in organising courses for their students. We have run courses at St Helen’s College as well as Leeds Met., Essex, Cambridge, London Southbank and Kent Universities. The results continue to be extraordinary. We are planning courses in Ipswich, Manchester, Plymouth and LSE. We are happy to run courses wherever we have a group of students wanting a course.

Raw results

We measure the speed of reading and comprehension. We then measure the speed of reviewing the same passage and the final comprehension. The comprehension tests are challenging. This gives us 4 raw measures. We can then compare these mean raw scores of 73 dyslexic adults with those of 190 non-dyslexic readers who have undertaken the same reading tests.

Evaluation

Before SuperReading, on average, dyslexic students read 19wpm less than non-dyslexic readers, with significantly less comprehension. After SuperReading they read 29wpm more than non-dyslexic readers, with very similar comprehension.

Additionally, before SuperReading, dyslexic readers review 45wpm less than non-dyslexic readers, with significantly less comprehension. After SuperReading they review 198wpm more than non-dyslexic readers, with very similar comprehension.

In effect, after SuperReading, dyslexic readers achieve a very similar comprehension (87% compared to 88%) in 4/5 time of non-dyslexic readers. Whereas, before SuperReading, they took 23% more time to achieve significantly less comprehension (80% compared to 88%).

All the improvements in the results are highly statistically significant.

Standardised Reading Effectiveness scores

Reading effectiveness (RE) is measured by combining speed and comprehension into a single score (wpm x % comprehension). We have standardised the reading effectiveness scores of the other 190 people who have undertaken the tests. (This sample is not known to include dyslexic readers, but is known to include a high proportion of teachers). This provides a standardised comparative framework to evaluate the improvements of the dyslexic readers. We have measures of the standardised RE scores for the first reading, as well as the review reading. Finally, because the first reading performance can also effect the review reading performance, we have the standardised RE scores for the combined performance. This combined RE score (CRE) is a measure of the total time taken for the final comprehension, and provides the best overall comparative score.

The mean standardised first reading RE score of the dyslexic group improves from 93 to 106 (from within the lowest 32% to within the highest 34%). The statistical significance is extremely high (p<0.0000001)

The mean review RE standardised scores of the dyslexic group improve from 93 to 123 (from within the lowest 32% to within the highest 6%). The statistical significance is extraordinary (p<1 in 10,000 million).

The mean CRE scores of the dyslexic group improve from 90.8 to 115.2 (from within the lowest 26% to within the highest 16%). This constitutes a rise of 24.4 standardised points ( 1.63 standard deviations). The statistical significance is extraordinary (p< 1 in 10,000 million).

When a group of non-dyslexic volunteers undertook the reading tests over the same time period in very similar conditions as the dyslexic students (but without participating in a SuperReading course) none of the mean reading speeds, comprehension or RE scores improved. This result supports the view that practicing the tests cannot explain any of the improved scores.

Comparing the Distribution of Pre- and Post-SuperReading Standardised Combined Reading Effectiveness (CRE) Scores for 73 Dyslexic Students

The graph is separated into one column per standard deviation. The blue columns represent a ‘normal distribution' (or ‘bell curve') centred around a mean standardised score of 100.

The red columns represent the distribution of the 73 dyslexic combined reading effectiveness scores before SuperReading.

The green columns represent the distribution of the same 73 dyslexic readers' scores after SuperReading.

Key features of the dyslexic readers' combined RE standardised scores after SuperReading:

•  12.3% are above SS145 (standard distribution [SD] would predict 0.1%), previously 0%

•  16.4% are above SS 140 (SD would predict 0.4%), previously 0%

•  21.9% are above SS130 (SD would predict 2.3%), previously 2.7%

•  43.8% are above SS115 (SD would predict 16%), previously 6.8%

•  70% are above SS100 (SD would predict 50%), previously 29%

•  30% are below SS100 (SD would predict 50%), previously 71%

•  9.6% are below SS85 (SD would predict 16%), previously 30.5%

•  0% are below SS70 (SD would predict 2.3%), previously 4.1%

If you are interested in more information, organising a SuperReading course, or becoming a SuperReading coach, please contact Dr Ross Cooper: superreading@hotmail.co.uk
079 5522 9800

Dr Ross Cooper, March 2011

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