Two of these boys have stopped suffering from headaches and stopped feeling sick and dizzy. They are Joel, Freddie and Owen from left to right.

Hello Barb,

It has been a little less than 2 months since I received my lenses and it has been AMAZING! Seeing and living the difference has been, quite literally, an eye-opening experience. I noticed a difference in regards to my driving; I have much better depth perception that I didn’t even know was a problem before. Also, between wearing my lenses and using the purple paper has made sitting through classes SO much easier. I have noticed that during class I really do need to wear a hat, so I had to go out and buy a few of those.

I am still getting used to wearing my lenses, or “sunglasses” (as what many people have been calling them) all the time. I know they are super dark, but I also know I am better off the more I wear them.

Thank you SO MUCH for doing what you do!

Elizabeth Hoernig

Invisible reading problem, easy solution
Tinted glasses, overlays aid students in focusing on what’s written on page

Paula AbromovitzSpecial for The Republic Apr. 7, 2008 12:00 AM

Editor’s note: This article was submitted by Paula Abromovitz. Send your education news to lori.baker@arizonarepublic.com.

Irlen Syndrome is a possible explanation for the average to gifted student who avoids reading or cannot read and for the learning-disabled student who struggles with reading.Helen Irlen, a school psychologist, worked with college students with reading difficulties. The students had average to above-average intelligence.
They reported symptoms that occurred when reading that no one had identified before such as: migraines and headaches, falling asleep, words switching around, print moving or vibrating, the text becoming 3D, the brightness of the page hurting their eyes. Print becoming blurry causing them to constantly re-focus, words blending into each other, patterns in the dense text that resembled rivers of white going down the page. Some felt dizzy or sick to their stomach when they read.Irlen found that placing colored overlays over the reading material improved the student’s comprehension, fluency, comfort, and attention. She developed a technology of tinting lenses and contacts that filter specific lightwaves. The students reported that their symptoms were eliminated when wearing the lenses, which also helped with handwriting, copying and depth perception. Both the overlays and lenses are specific for each individual.This method worked for my client, Millie Hudson Libby, who experienced headaches and eyestrain and could read for only a short time. By using a colored overlay, Libby’s reading time doubled. After tinting her prescription contacts, her eyestrain and fatigue under fluorescent lights were eliminated.Visual stress not related to a visual problem is a primary complaint. Strain and fatigue within the first 10 to 30 minutes is normal for these individuals.My advice to parents is to ask their child to describe what the print looks like when they read for a long time. Sometimes five minutes of reading seems like five hours.When a parent or teacher observes a child having trouble sounding out words or rereading the same sentence, they ask, “What’s wrong, why can’t you do this?” The answer generally is, “I don’t know.” When the appropriate questions are asked they have no trouble describing what they see.Many children receive reprimands for not sitting still. When I ask these children how it helps them to move around when they read, their answer is, “If I move I can keep up with the words moving,” and “If I move I can keep the print in focus.” These individuals have no other frame of reference for what they see on a page; therefore, the distortions appear normal and their body responds in a manner necessary to complete the required task.Once we identify the problem and provide a remedy, frustration and anger are eliminated for both the parents and the child. The student for the first time in their life may realize they are not dumb or lazy, the parent gains the knowledge that their child is trying hard and what they have been looking at is an invisible problem that can be solved with a simple non-invasive solution.Parents call to report that their child no longer complains of stomachaches before school, grades improving to A’s and B’s, children now able to play sports because they can hit and catch a ball accurately.A screening for Irlen Syndrome could be your child’s answer to their low reading level, learning problems, ADD/ ADHD, discipline problems, lack of motivation with schoolwork, headaches, dyslexia and other physical complaints.Paula Abromovitz, an Irlen diagnostician, may be reached at paulaabromo@yahoo.com.

Letter from a happy mother:Dear Dr. Kessler,We came to your office on April 11th.  WoW! What a difference the Irlen Method has madein my son’s life! He has been using the colored overlaywhile we are waiting for his Irlen glasses. The first day that he used the overlay at home, he just stared at the book. When I asked what was wrong he looked at me in amazement and said “I can read!” and he did. He says the overlay is magic. Each day when he uses his overlayhe has the same reaction. Amazement that he can read. My 9-year-old son hugs me and thanks me for taking him to see you. Today he is reading a comic book that he has been struggling to read over the past couple of months. After flipping the overlay on and off the book he realized that he doesn’t even see all the words without the overlay. He said he cannot believe all the things he has been missing all these years.I cannot thank you enough for helping me to finally find the answer to his reading difficulties. I have told every person I know about Irlen Syndrome-and have sent out mass e-mail on my homeschool groups-trying to spread the word so that others don’t have to struggle like Josh did. Not one person that I have spoken to has ever even heard of it, including several teachers. Then a copule days ago my aunt saw a news clip on ABC about Irlen Syndrome.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Christine T.(the mom who still cries every time Josh reads to her!)

Letter from a grateful momTo: Irleninstitute@irlen.com Tuesday, March 04, 2008My daughter has Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS)/ Irlen Syndrome; it has been a frustrating and painful journey searching for answers. Heather has had headaches on a daily basisnfor most of her life. She has also suffered with migraines, dizziness, loss of appetite, and learning difficulties. When she would come home from school, she would close herself in her bedroom with the lights off and the blinds drawn.Heather was seen by an M.D., a Neurologist, a Head and Neck Specialist, Optomitrist, and a Physical Therapist. An MRI and blood tests showed nothing unusual. The doctors said her headaches were tension and stress-related, and they continued to prescribe medications to  ease her pain.In June of 2006 Heather said “Mom, just let it go. Nobody is going to figure it out. I just have to live with it; I don’t want to see any more doctors.”Shortly after that I read about Irlen Syndrome and found that Heather had most of the symptoms. I immediately took her in for a screening and diagnostic exam, and Mrs. Irlen said her case was so severe, she wondered how Heather had managed to go through life for 15 years without treatment.She now wears the Irlen special filter lenses. She can function at school without having a migraine at the end of the day, and she can read a book without the words “moving” on the page.To make Heather more comfortable in her own home without her glasses, we have removed all fluorescent lights and replaced them with incandescent lights on a dimmer switch, and we are in the process of repainting the walls to get rid of the blinding white paint.It was such a relief when Heather was diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome, we finally understand what she has been suffering with and can do something about it instead of aggravating it!Sincerely,Barbara S.Huntington Beach, California  

In her Blog piece titled “Face Blindness in Autism and Beyond“, Asperger’s Patient, Donna Williams, described her history of meaning blindness and how she has had to struggle to recognize even her husband when he returns home. In her thirties she got tinted lenses that finally allowed her to see faces as a whole, not a lot of fragments that she couldn’t process as a whole. She still had trouble RECOGNIZING people outside of their usual context. This is fascinatiing reading. Highly recommended.For my part I have a very long history of difficulty recognizing people at times, not connecting their image with their name. I do not store visual images well. If I close my eyes I cannot picture anything at all. When I entered the church in Salt Lake City for our son, Ryan’s wedding rehearsal, it took me some time to recognize our son, Ryan, his wife to be, and her family although they were standing right there. A similar experience happened when I attended a dinner meeting of our county pharmacy society and I had to scan the faces of those at the table. It is an uncomfortable process. Can you relate to this experience?

This article brings to light the new Naturalux filters for fluorescent fixtures which filter the light and glare to benefit victims of lupus, fibromyalgia, Irlen Syndrome, autism,  migraines, ADD,ADHD etc. This sounds promising for those who have a choice of their environment but probably won’t help much at the local grocery store.

Irlen Syndrome, Meares-Irlen Syndrome, or Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome is a very specific problem associated with the photoreceptors of the eye and how wavelengths are absorbed and processed by multiple systems of the brain. There are different manifestations of this complex problem. An individual may experience just a couple or all of the symptoms: eye-strain, fatigue, headaches (including migraine), nausea, motion sickness, confusion or lack of clarity in thinking, the perception that text is moving (rising, falling, shaking, swirling, disappearing, etc.) and even problems with depth perception. Individuals with this problem may love to read but struggle to read for long periods of time; resist reading altogether because the physical issues make it a struggle; or simply appear disinterested in reading because they “don’t like it” (but they don’t know why –most adults with Irlen Syndrome live all their lives with it and, therefor, don’t know that issues they experience aren’t normal). One of the most serious manifestations is epileptic seizure (now widely understood to be caused by strobing, but less understood to be caused by what researcher Arnold Wilkins, Ph.D. University of Essex, calls “visual stress” and “pattern glare.” Reading involves patterns of text and is a visually stressful task.)

Dyslexia is commonly thought of as a learning issue. The neurobiological issues associated with it are little understood. Irlen Syndrome is a neurobiological issue that affects a variety of brain systems (beginning with the photoreceptors) and a handful of researchers are doing excellent work to define and document it. It is a neurobiological problem that can affect both health and learning, just health, or just learning.

Think of the human visual system as beginning with a “solar power plant.” The “photorecptors” capture the energy (literally, the individual wavelengths), a biochemical reaction occurs, signals are sent as a result of this biochemical reaction through the visual pathways to the deeper structures of the brain. What the photoreceptors have captured is pure ENERGY. The human skin also has photoreceptive qualities. Do you know people who burn easily? Tan easily? Some react better to ultraviolet (UV) radiation than others, right?

Well, Irlen Syndrome exists because some people have photoreceptive “solar power plants” that react inappropriately to UV radiation and a myriad of other aspects of light (short wavelengths, medium wavelengths, long wavelengths, volume of lights as expressed through dark and bright, and pattern and contrast modulation). The resulting effect is physical stress on the eyes and/or brain AND/OR unstable visual perception. For many of these people, fluorescent lighting and computer screens are particularly problematic because both are in a constant state of flicker (except LCD screens), which adds to the visual stress.

Irlen Syndrome is a very specific condition that manifests in different ways. Tinted lenses reduce the symptoms by modifying the wavelengths (or ENERGY) absorbed by the photoreceptors. The modification improves how the physical system receives and processes the light. This is totally logical to physicists and a few people studying both photosensitivity and the neurobiology of the brain. Sadly many ophthalmologists and optometrists have never studied the physics of light, let alone photosensitivity and neurobiology.

I am pleased to see that the first International Symposium on Visually-Induced Motion Sickneess, Fatigue, and Epileptic Seizure (VIMS) is being held in Hong Kong this December (2007). Because thousands of children were stricken by epileptic seizures during and immediately after a popular Pokemon movie in theaters following a short strobing segment a number of years ago, the scientific community finally became interested in this important new area of brain science. A brand new American movie may produce a smaller effect, if the scientific community pays attention. The movie is American Gangster, and it too includes a short strobing segment.I welcome further discussions on this topic.

RSStone74@aol.com Taken from a discussion at beingdyslexic.co.uk November 4, 2007

Note: Scroll down to see previous article which is what she was responding to.

Q&A at http://irlen.com Scroll down to “If I have ADD or ADHD, can I be helped with Irlen colored filters?”

Irlen East “ADD and ADHD” from East of Englands Center for the treatment of Irlen Syndrome

Reading Problems With Kids story from CNN dated April 16, 2008

“To date, I have replied to queries that Irlen is different to color-blindness which is a vision problem. However, there can be a definite connection for some! Two students who are “color-blind” found that placing the selected Irlen overlays on the page helped one student identify correct colors. When doing the assessments, Bev found that both of these students could correctly identify colors when looking through the tinted lenses but without them, could not do so. One student remained only with red-green color difficulties but we devised a plan to help him “name” these colors even if he did not see them correctly. The other student needed no further help than her tinted lenses for the many colors which she had named incorrectly. This blew us all away!”

The correct identification of colors by his daughter was the key factor in convincing a skeptical father about the Irlen Method. He gave a testimonial at a public info session that night, inviting those who are skeptical to observe an assessment. I now include the naming of colors during my assessments as I would have missed this exciting success of Irlen tints except for Bonnie’s discovery

Thanks Bonnie!

Beverly Butt

From The Irlen International Newsletter

Note: I understand that 2 per cent of women and 8 per cent of men are color-blind. Roger Wheaton