Sandra Steele, Educational Consultant

Special Spectacles Open Up a World of Reading for Dyslexic Children

Mar 21, 2005 12:25 pm US/Mountain

In this Healthy Living report, learn how a new treatment for a little known form of dyslexia allows kids to start seeing the world through rose-colored glasses.

Nicole and Aleea are wearing sunglasses and it’s not just to look cool. Wearing them is the only way they can read. Both students share a reading disability known as Irlen syndrome.

For these kids, a typed page looks as though words often move around in dizzying swirls and spins.

“They moved around and walked off the paper,” said Nicole Green.

Aleea Johnson also has Irlen's Syndrome and finds it difficult to read as well.

“The words moved...there was spinning and I had headaches,” Aleea said.

And for reasons unknown, colored glasses can make things appear more normal and allow these kids to read and write at their grade level. Karla Jay is a speech therapist who specializes in the Irlen disorder. By placing different colored overlays over white paper, she can help determine what colors work best for each child. Once the right colors are chosen, glasses can be prescribed in that shade.

Jay says Irlen kids often suffer in silence. “They're page is spinning and flickers and they have no idea other kids’ pages don't do that. It's a big shock to them,” she said.

“Kids feel really dumb when they come in and my goal is to let them know right off, you're a smart person who's been working too hard. We have a lot of tears in this room,” Jay said.

Because this disorder is relatively unknown, Irlen kids are often misdiagnosed. John Hardy is a therapist who has patients with this problem.

“This can look very much like a-d-d or a-d-h-d,” Hardy said.

But when a correct diagnosis is made, the results can be dramatic. Kids often go from academic failures to success stories.

“I got straight A’s,” said Nicole.

”In spelling I had an F. Once I got glasses it improved to a C then a B,” said Aleea.

Irlen Syndrome often runs in families.

Another side note: Irlen kids are typically great artists. They tend to use art to compensate for their deficiencies in other areas.