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Visual dyslexia needs to be objectively observed. Most sufferers are not aware that their experience of reading differs from that of other people. Fortunately, behaviour associated with visual stress can be quite easy to spot. It is not sufficient to try the coloured sheets available from stationers because the colours are not subtle or varied enough. It is often the case that one person will benefit from overlays of one colour, and lenses of another colour. If lenses are to be worn, it is important that a separate professional assessment is carried out. There are two widespread approaches to testing for coloured lenses. One is carried out by a specialist optometrist using the "Intuitive colorimeter", a piece of equipment designed by Professor Arnold Wilkins in conjunction with the Medical Research Council and marketed by Cerium Visual Technologies, which will identify precisely the chromaticity of the illumination of a piece of text most effective in increasing reading speed, giving a measurement that is then used in prescribing tinted lenses. A list of recommended optometrists who test for coloured lenses with the Intuitive Colorimeter can be found here Color overlays, colour overlays, or coloured filters are strictly used to help overcome the symptoms of visual stress. This technique serves no other purpose. Do reading glasses help dyslexia?
It seems that children benefit most from colour if it is offered as soon as any reading difficulty is suspected, before the cycle of failure has begun. Many 7 year-olds appear to use coloured overlays for a year or two and then discard them as unnecessary. This may be because the acquired familiarity with text makes the distortion less distracting. Likewise we found that in these dyslexics, who often complain of migraine type headaches, the blue filters often improved their headaches. Migraine was previously thought to be due to swelling of the arteries in the membranes surrounding the brain, the meninges. But we now believe that the hypothalamus and specifically the SCN is responsible. Blue coloured filters, worn as spectacles, have been found to be highly effective in reducing the frequency of migraine symptoms. So our blue filters are also often efficacious in reducing migraine.The main aim of DRT research into visual and auditory weaknesses in poor readers is to develop treatments that will help them, and to prove by properly controlled trials that they work. We have shown that simple treatments such as viewing text through blue or yellow coloured filters, musical training or eating oily fish, really can help children to learn to read. Optometrists have found that Irlen lenses or Irlen colored overlays on text may alleviate visual stress symptoms. When the problematic wavelength is filtered out, the text is clearer, and eye strain and headaches are reduced. Visual Stress can exist on its own or alongside other dyslexia-related difficulties and other SpLDs. This set of difficulties is sometimes called "visual dyslexia," but it is not actually dyslexia.
Ingrid Torjesen – Use of coloured overlays and lenses are unlikely to help children with dyslexia, study finds. British Medical Journal. Another factor to consider is the age of the child. It is often difficult to assess a child for coloured glasses below the age of 8.
If you still have important questions or need specific information you can telephone Avril Shelmerdine on 01206 372381 Oversensitivity to glare and sunlight, fluorescent and bright light, and sometimes the light at night Jordan Da Silva Miyasaka1 , Raphael V. Gonzaga Vieira1 , Elaine Shizue Novalo-Goto1 , Erik Montagna1 , Rubens Wajnsztejn1–Irlen syndrome: systematic review and level of evidence analysis( 2019).
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