Irlen Syndrome

It's been a little while!

I'll update on where we are in another post. In the meantime, I wanted to put out some links to info on something I have recently stumbled upon.

To back up real quick, Will has been dealing with chronic headaches. He has had headaches for a long time. They improved for a while back when we began the vision therapy, but they seem to have picked up in frequency again this school year.

I have a Google alert set up to send me emails when articles are published about Visual Processing issues and Executive Functioning. It's great. I get an email whenever something new is published to the internet.

So, a couple weeks ago I received an email, I think under the alert for Visual Processing and it addressed something called Irlen Syndrome. I had never heard of that before. But I was intrigued because it mentioned headaches. So, I started reading more about it. I am providing some of what I read below (taken from-http://www.irlenvisions.com/pg/What-is-Irlen-Syndrome.php :

What is Irlen Syndrome?

Irlen Syndrome, also known as Scotopic Sensitivity System (SSS) is a type of visual perceptual problem. It is not an optical problem. It is a problem with how the nervous system encodes and decodes visual information. Academic and work performance, behaviour, attention, ability to sit still and concentration can all be affected.

Individuals with Irlen syndrome see the printed page differently. Many do not realize their page is different. Irlen syndrome prevents many people from reading effectively and efficiently.

 Until recently it has baffled educators and medical scientists because it has been undetected by standard visual and educational tests. Irlen has a patented treatment method using specially formulated colored overlays, or spectral filters worn as glasses or contact lenses, to reduce or eliminate perception difficulties.

Now there is much research showing why.  Read more.

See a three dimensional scan of the brain (PDF, 1.34MB) having Irlen Syndrome, compared to a brain without Irlen Syndrome

Take the self test.

Some of the symptoms of Irlen syndrome include:

• headaches
• sleepiness when reading
• skipping lines or words
• losing place
• poor comprehension
• depth perception
• light sensitivity
• Words that shift, move, blur, become bright, or have haloes

Research now shows that Irlen syndrome can help:

• Research on Headaches and migraines. Read more.
• Research on Traumatic Brain injuries. Read more.
• Research on Autism and Asperger's syndrome. Read more.

Individuals with Irlen syndrome may:
• Lose their place on the page easily
• Skip words, lines or reread words or lines
• Squint, open their eyes wide, rub their eyes or have red and watery eyes
• Be able to see only a small portion of the page in focus. The rest may be blurry
• Move around or move the book to get it to focus
• Display a short attention span because of eye strain or fatigue while reading
• Experience nausea because of movement on the page
• Get a headache after reading for a while
• Shade the page or move it to avoid glare
• Be fidgety or restless while reading
• Prefer to read in a dim light
• Make errors when copying from the board
• Misalign numbers in math problems
• Have slow and choppy reading
• Be unable to stay on task
• Be an underachiever


Some have one symptom and some have many.
It is important to realize that this syndrome is a perceptual dysfunction rather than a vision problem. Irlen Syndrome, like any reading problem, can occur with someone who wears prescription glasses or even with someone who does not need them. Those who do not need corrective lenses will wear on-prescription filters with their specifically prescribed Irlen spectral color in them.
For those suffering from this syndrome, one or more of the colors that are part of the visual spectrum effect the speed and consistency of how the brain is able to interpret, not only the printed page, but everything around them.
Studies show that Irlen Syndrome affects to some degree approximately 12-15% of the general population, or over 17 million people in the U.S. In the population of those with learning problems, the incidence is about 45%.


So much of what I read here fit what we have experienced with Will over the years. Yet, I had never heard of Irlen Syndrome. I reserved a book at the library and went and checked it out. I read the majority of it. I am very intrigued and would like to investigate this as a possiblity with Will. 
His headaches are almost daily and it drives me nuts that he grabs for the Ibuprofen whenever he has one. I've been trying to keep him hydrated and all. So, this Irlen Syndrome is interesting to me and I will be discussing it more here in the coming days.

Attention disorder…or vision problem?

Attention disorder…or vision problem?

What a fantastic article that really helps drive home the idea that many attention disorders are actually Convergence Insufficiency in disguise. It links to several other articles, that I have not read yet, but sound like they might have lots of good information, as well.

Several of Dr. Martin's comments in this article hit home with our situation. For example, "...a child may not realize his vision isn't normal. All he knows is that reading and writing are difficult, and he will do just about anything to get out of it". Oh if I had a dime for every time we just thought Will was being lazy. That he just wanted to avoid doing the work because he didn't feel like putting the effort into it. Well, of course he didn't want to put the effort into it... because it was soooo much effort. And he didn't know that this wasn't normal. Actually, that is not true. He was starting to realize it and thought it was because he was "dumb". Which is even sadder, really. I think a lot of kids, who do not get the help they need, end up feeling this way. They can't help it. They know how difficult some tasks are for them, but they see many other friends who can accomplish these tasks easily. So, of course, they come to the conclusion that something is wrong with them (which it is), but it isn't that they are "dumb" or "stupid" or "they just don't get it". It is a tangible problem that can be corrected! That is the good news in all of this. Convergence Insufficiency can be fixed!