Visual Stress or Irlen Syndrome?
Visual Stress or Irlen Syndrome?
In 1964, the respected neurologist MacDonald Critchley cited a case of a dyslexic child who was unable to read words on white card but could read words printed on coloured card. In 1980 Olive Meares described a syndrome of symptoms (visual perceptual distortions, eyestrain and headache) that some people experience when reading and which can be alleviated by using coloured card or coloured filters . In the early 1980s, Helen Irlen developed a proprietary treatment system for this syndrome, which later became known as Irlen Syndrome, Visual Stress or Scotopic sensitivity syndrome. Irlen claimed that the coloured filters need to be prescribed with great precision and different people need different colours.
Visual stress and Irlen Sydrome are terms used to describe visual discomfort and perceptual distortions in the printed text, suffered by many people who struggle to read. The condition is estimated to be present in about 40 % of poor readers and in 20 % of the general population in varying degrees.
Dyslexic individuals are more likely to experience visual stress than others, although visual stress is quite distinct from dyslexia and the phonological difficulties with which dyslexia is usually associated.
Due to the many overlapping symptoms with many other Binocular Vision anomalies such as Convergence Insufficiency, Accommodation Insufficiency, Oculomotor Dysfunction and more, which cause diagnostic confusion, we advise a learning related vision assessment before proceeding to perform tinted lens/overlays for Visual Stress.
"Our opinion is, these lens do not treat any Learning Difficulties such as Dyslexia, but they could be considered as a Visual assistive tool which relieve some visual symptoms but, not as a means to an end, contrary to what some practitioners published that it is a cure for Dyslexia for example. Learning Difficulties have neurobiological origins and is varied and diverse in its symptoms. We do not agree that tints treat Learning Difficulties but it is well considered as a assistive device to aid learning. Further assessments on Visual Efficiency and Vision Information Processing is necessary to understand the full functions of the visual system."
At Vision and Learning Developmental Practice, we provide the latest equipments and skills to assess a child's eye tracking matched with norms, visual perceptual skills, visual information processing skills, and more to fully understand their learning abilities.
Someone with Visual Stress or Irlen Syndrome may experience:
(All of these symptoms overlap with other conditions such as Convergence Insufficiency, Poor Eye tracking, Visual Perceptual Disorder)
In 1964, the respected neurologist MacDonald Critchley cited a case of a dyslexic child who was unable to read words on white card but could read words printed on coloured card. In 1980 Olive Meares described a syndrome of symptoms (visual perceptual distortions, eyestrain and headache) that some people experience when reading and which can be alleviated by using coloured card or coloured filters . In the early 1980s, Helen Irlen developed a proprietary treatment system for this syndrome, which later became known as Irlen Syndrome, Visual Stress or Scotopic sensitivity syndrome. Irlen claimed that the coloured filters need to be prescribed with great precision and different people need different colours.
Visual stress and Irlen Sydrome are terms used to describe visual discomfort and perceptual distortions in the printed text, suffered by many people who struggle to read. The condition is estimated to be present in about 40 % of poor readers and in 20 % of the general population in varying degrees.
Dyslexic individuals are more likely to experience visual stress than others, although visual stress is quite distinct from dyslexia and the phonological difficulties with which dyslexia is usually associated.
Due to the many overlapping symptoms with many other Binocular Vision anomalies such as Convergence Insufficiency, Accommodation Insufficiency, Oculomotor Dysfunction and more, which cause diagnostic confusion, we advise a learning related vision assessment before proceeding to perform tinted lens/overlays for Visual Stress.
"Our opinion is, these lens do not treat any Learning Difficulties such as Dyslexia, but they could be considered as a Visual assistive tool which relieve some visual symptoms but, not as a means to an end, contrary to what some practitioners published that it is a cure for Dyslexia for example. Learning Difficulties have neurobiological origins and is varied and diverse in its symptoms. We do not agree that tints treat Learning Difficulties but it is well considered as a assistive device to aid learning. Further assessments on Visual Efficiency and Vision Information Processing is necessary to understand the full functions of the visual system."
At Vision and Learning Developmental Practice, we provide the latest equipments and skills to assess a child's eye tracking matched with norms, visual perceptual skills, visual information processing skills, and more to fully understand their learning abilities.
Someone with Visual Stress or Irlen Syndrome may experience:
(All of these symptoms overlap with other conditions such as Convergence Insufficiency, Poor Eye tracking, Visual Perceptual Disorder)
- Print looks different
- Environment looks different
- Slow or inefficient reading
- Poor comprehension
- Eye strain
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Difficulty with math computation
- Difficulty copying
- Difficulty reading music
- Poor sports performance
- Poor depth-perception
- Poor comprehension
- Misreads words
- Problems tracking from line to line
- Reads in dim light
- Skips words or lines
- Reads slowly or hesitantly
- Takes breaks
- Loses place
- Avoids reading
- Strain and fatigue
- Tired or sleepy
- Headaches or nausea
- Fidgety or restless
- Eyes that hurt or become watery
- Trouble copying
- Unequal spacing
- Unequal letter size
- Writing up or downhill
- Inconsistent spelling