I think there’s a word for when you become so familiar with language that you stop sounding it out (reading with your ears) and begin to just recognize and achieve comprehension by the visible shapes (reading with your eyes). This is something that’s always bothered me as I’m a pretty big reader and I struggle with comprehension when I base things too much on sound (I struggle with poetry). So I’ve been trying to get back to an internal voice inside my head, which is difficult.

Things that help though include visualizing the scene, which usually blends the two together (literally trying to see it in your minds eye). Obviously this works better with fiction and the concrete as opposed to the abstract or something like a philosophical treatise. Another thing I’ve found helpful is to read a few pages aloud to get that inner voice going…after a few pages, when you lapse into silence it’s easier to hear the words.

If I’m truly trying to connect or having difficulty I sometimes twitch my fingers so that I’m giving all the words equal weight (as if I’m typing them on a computer.) I think it becomes very easy to skip over certain words but assigning weights and measures helps.

Really though, I’ve found it’s helpful to get in a good state of mind. Like, if I read after eight hours of Call of Duty my concentration will be awful, as opposed to, say, a good nights sleep and an early morning walk. I’ve found limiting distractions (writing down to do tasks on a dry erase board, airplane mode on phone, not reading by a TV, making sure your place is clean) helps me personally though I’m sure everyone’s different.