Down, boy? ;-) We're discussing a matter here, not attacking each other. The kind of cockiness I'm perceiving in the above is counterproductive. You cannot with certainty say what would help Davkol pick up speed, and your suggestion is therefore mere conjecture. And a needlessly belligerent one at that. Surely there's no need or use for that?
Yes perhaps I was out of line there. But if someone wants to make such strong claims as this ridiculous statement:
Looking at the keyboard itself is counterproductive by all possible accounts
.. then they should be prepared to back it up. Otherwise, a more open approach may serve them better..
As for your claim, I'd guess that someone staying at ~60 WPM for a while won't in fact likely benefit from a visual aid. When I typed at that speed (I'm not that much faster now, 60–75 WPM is my normal speed range), I knew perfectly well where each key was positioned! I've been there both with QWERTY, Dvorak and Colemak so I guess I should know.
I already used that example of myself. Certainly I know where all the keys on the keyboard are. So in that case you would say that I have no use for looking down. But the point of looking down isn't to help you remember where the keys are. Its to help you practice perfect repetitions. Do you want to repeat practicing your mistakes, while you force yourself to look up while you stumble or pause? Or do you want to repeat practicing perfect?
How about this: Do 20 fast and perfect reps while looking, then practice not looking and see if you've gotten it ingrained. Then repeat. User davkol thinks something like that is worthless and "counterproductive". Do you?
But of course, you're free to use or not use whatever methods you want.
I'll step back.