<p>I’m not sure how much you can change your reading speed at this stage. They tried to teach us speed reading when I was in school, too, but it never took with me. I can read at a decent speed, but I do usually subvocalize. I have learned how to skim and locate important material when reading nonfiction, and that can be helpful.</p>
<p>I have two sons. One never liked to read until recently–age 21–and so is a slow reader. I think he will pick up speed as he read more. However, he will never be like my older son. He taught himself to read around age 4. He said he tested his reading speed recently, and he can get up to, I think he said, 2000 words a minute with decent comprehension, 1000 when he wants to really understand something. He says when he reads, it is like he is watching a video in his head of what he is reading. I do not understand how that works, but I don’t think it is something he learned, rather a gift he was born with.</p>
<p>That said, I’m sure practice can help, and it sounds like you are doing a lot of reading, so that is good. As for quality of life, I think many, many things are more important than reading speed. :)</p>