The following is from the book “The Light Barrier” by Rhonda Stone.

Her father wrote “When our otherwise intelligent daughter fell a year behind her class in reading by the end of first grade, we enrolled her in Chapter 1 intensive reading class. For the entire next year, we worked with her teachers and counselors, had her eyes checked, did Hooked on Phonics, read to her, had her read to us-all to no avail. By the end of the second grade, she was two or three years ahead of grade in all subjects except reading and spelling, in which she was 1.5 and 0.5 years behind, respectively.

We were at a loss until the school counselor mentioned (without recommendation) something called scotopic sensitivity syndrome (SSS) that she heard about at a conference.”

Annelise hit an invisible wall in reading. Annelise had suffered from frequent motion sickness since infancy, headaches since age three, and clumsiness. She was also awkward at navigating stairs, bringing both feet to a single step before moving on to the next, and she was terrified of escalators. The Horstmans learned about scotopic sensitivity syndrome when Annelise was in the third grade. Willing to consider any possible explanation, her parents sought help from a practitioner trained in the Irlen Method. The Irlen practitioner identified a moderate problem with sensitivity to aspects of light, and soon after, Annelise was wearing special tints.

Immediately, Annelise was better able to navigate stairs. Within a year she caught up to her grade level in reading. By sixth grade, Annelise was an A student in all subjects. Tinted lenses also removed a barrier to her ability to read music-a skill highly valued in her musically inclined home.