"The words are moving. They won't hold still. I can't read them."
“It’s too bright…I can’t open my eyes wide”
"There are white lines running down the page."
"My eyes are watery. And they hurt."
"Everything is getting blurry and my head is starting to hurt."
These are statements often heard during a screening for Irlen Syndrome/Scotopic Sensitivity, a visual-perceptual problem discovered in the early 1980's by Long Beach psychologist Helen Irlen. As she researched persons identified with learning disabilities, she heard these unusual reactions to reading.
Further research and a comment from a little girl gave Irlen an inspired idea. The child preferred to have her work put in a red plastic folder because "the words stopped moving." This caught Irlen’s attention and she decided to follow up on it, substituting the plastic, colored filters used in Hollywood sound-stage lights for the plastic folder.
She discovered the use of color to correct visual-perceptual problems stemming from the inability of the brain to use the full spectrum of light.
As she questioned her students from the original project who had reported the issues above, she discovered that the right color overlay on the page, or several overlays, corrected their problems. More research and collection of data showed that people with reading problems, dyslexia, or processing problems could be helped with simply a plastic overlay.
Irlen expanded her research as she realized using color in lenses would be more convenient to use. And so Irlen Spectral Filters were developed. With the presentation of "Reading By the Colors" in May 1988, on 60 Minutes, Irlen Institute was flooded with calls from people who recognized themselves in the interviews conducted by Morley Safer.
As her discovery reached Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and across the United States, other symptoms reported by poor readers became apparent ... and the Spectral Filters aided in alleviating those problems as well as the reading ones. People who had problems keeping alignments in math, skipping lines and/or missing words, had poor handwriting, couldn't read for very long, developed headaches, felt eye strain, lost comprehension and/or had poor retention of material, reported dynamic changes.
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They confirmed their improved attention, comprehension, comfort, and achievements. One of the main supporters of the Irlen Spectral Filters process is neuropsychiatrist Daniel Amen, M.D., who has been able to document Irlen Syndrome/Scotopic Sensitivity through SPECT scans showing the improvement in the brain when the lenses are worn.
The first step is a screening by an Irlen-trained professional who defines the problem and supplies an overlay(s) and other suggestions. A meeting with an Irlen diagnostician determines the precise colors needed in lenses to correct the brain's use of light. All of the processes are unique to the brain being helped. No two people are alike in the colors and shades of the colors which help.
In areas such as Michigan, light sensitivity outside can be an especially difficult interference on sunny days, when the light is bright and almost “pure.” For many, this can make it difficult to correctly see road signs and route markers. And we Michiganders love to travel “Up North”.
There are two Diagnosticians currently here in the state, one in Ann Arbor and one in Royal Oak. There is another one relocating from England to Traverse City, one of Michigan’s favorite vacation spots.
If you suspect someone in your family or someone you know might be helped by this procedure, please check online at www.irlen.com and discover how the world of color can help.
Barbara David, EdS, LMSW, is an Irlen Diagnostician at the Center for Creative Living. She can be contacted at: bdavid2719@sbcglobal.net or cclro@aol.com
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