September 8, 2026
The first is reading faster than you can pronounce. Speed feels like progress and hides everything: rushed letters, dropped vowels, madd lengths that are whatever the momentum allows. Slow reading is not remedial reading. It is the only speed at which a correction can be applied.
The second is learning letter names instead of letter sounds. A student who has memorised the alphabet as a list of names still has to translate before every letter they meet. The sound is the useful unit, and it is the one to drill.
The third is skipping the Qaida because the verses are more motivating. Full verses read with an insecure foundation build fluency on top of errors, and the errors become automatic long before anyone notices them. A habit takes far longer to remove than it took to acquire.
The fourth is studying only when the teacher is present. Two or three short reviews between lessons do more than doubling the lesson length, because retention responds to how often you return to material, not how long you sit with it once.
The fifth is silent practice. Reading in your head skips the entire physical half of the skill — the tongue, the throat, the breath — and it lets mistakes pass because there is no sound to compare against anything. Read aloud, even quietly, even alone.
If you recognise several of these, that is normal and it is good news. Every one of them is a change in method rather than a limit on what you can learn.