What is Irlen Syndrome?
IRLEN SYNDROME (also known as SCOTOPIC SENSITIVITY SYNDROME)
It is estimated that 15% of the general population suffer from Irlen (Scotopic Sensitivity) Syndrome. They may or may not have dyslexia. It can affect reading, academic and work performance. This syndrome is exacerbated by environmental factors such as lighting, brightness, glare, high contrast, patterns and colours. Irlen Syndrome can affect people of all ages. Children are most at risk because their educational progress is affected. I.S. can be a huge barrier to learning for a significant number of children. However, adults can be severely affected because of factors in their daily life and in their working environment. Many children and adults can benefit from using coloured overlays or coloured lenses for reading difficulties and perceptual difficulties.
IRLEN SYNDROME (also known as SCOTOPIC SENSITIVITY SYNDROME)
It is estimated that 15% of the general population suffer from Irlen (Scotopic Sensitivity) Syndrome. They may or may not have dyslexia. It can affect reading, academic and work performance. This syndrome is exacerbated by environmental factors such as lighting, brightness, glare, high contrast, patterns and colours. Irlen Syndrome can affect people of all ages. Children are most at risk because their educational progress is affected. I.S. can be a huge barrier to learning for a significant number of children. However, adults can be severely affected because of factors in their daily life and in their working environment. Many children and adults can benefit from using coloured overlays or coloured lenses for reading difficulties and perceptual difficulties.
People suffering from Irlen Syndrome are likely to experience some, but not all of the following symptoms and characteristics:
Light Sensitivity:
Inefficient Reading:
Contrast and Colour Sensitivity:
Writes up or down hill
Attention Deficit Disorders- problems concentrating during tasks such as:
Poor Depth Perception:
Difficulty judging accurately distances or spatial relationships, causing difficulty with stairs, escalators, ball games, driving, perspective and writing
- Slow reading rate
- Inefficient reading
- Poor comprehension
- Inability to read without taking frequent breaks
- Eye strain or eye fatigue
- Difficulty in judging distances
- Headaches
- Eye strain when using a computer monitor
Light Sensitivity:
- discomfort or difficulty concentrating in fluorescent light, sunlight, bright lights, glare, lights at night;
- difficulties with white boards, overhead projectors, bright shiny surfaces and white paper when reading.
- Fatigue
- Drowsiness
- Fidgeting
- Distractibility
- Hyperactivity and stress
- Reddened eyes and lids
- Watery eyes
- Headaches
- Burning or aching eyes
- Sandy, scratchy, dry eyes
- Falls asleep when reading
- Words double, move of look fuzzy
- Words disappear
- Restricted Span:
- inability to read words in groups or see objects in the environment as a whole; this can affect the ability to recognise and understand facial expressions and body language
Inefficient Reading:
- Skip words/lines
- Reread for information
- Problems with tracking
- Misread words
- Put words in the wrong order and copying from the board
- Skips words or lines
- Cannot read for longer than half to three quarters of an hour
- Loses place
- Reading is slow and hesitant
- Reads in a stop and go rhythm
- Reading skills and comprehension deteriorate as reading continues
- Rubs eyes
- Moves closer to or further away from the page
- Excessive blinking
- Narrows eyes
- Opens eyes wide open
- Shades the page with hand or body
- Must incorporate breaks into reading
- Moves the book to reduce glare
- Closes or covers one eye
- Moves head
- Reads close to the page
- Reads word by word
- Uses finger or other marker to block out part of the page
- Unable to skim or speed read
Contrast and Colour Sensitivity:
- problems with high contrast, such as black print on white paper, bright colours, busy patterns such as stripes and polka dots.
Writes up or down hill
- Unequal spacing between the letters and words
- Inability to write on the line
- Makes errors copying from books or board
- Narrows eyes or blinks a lot while copying from the board
Attention Deficit Disorders- problems concentrating during tasks such as:
- Reading
- computer work
- listening and observing
- tests and examinations
- stress
- hyperactivity
- changes in mood especially in fluorescent lighting
Poor Depth Perception:
Difficulty judging accurately distances or spatial relationships, causing difficulty with stairs, escalators, ball games, driving, perspective and writing
- Difficulty getting on and off escalators
- Clumsy
- Walks into table edges or door jambs
- Difficulty judging distances
- Drops or knocks things over
Distortions:
Tracey Bermingham B.Ed(Hons)., M.A., N.P.Q.H
Independent Education Consultant/Centre Owner
- Seeing patterns in the background
- Print moving
- Print fading
- Print disappearing
- Print swirling
- Print blurring
- Print sparkling or shimmering
- Seeing similar distortions in the environment such as blurriness and movement
Tracey Bermingham B.Ed(Hons)., M.A., N.P.Q.H
Independent Education Consultant/Centre Owner