Dyslexia and Visual Stress – City Eyes Ophthalmic Opticians

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects between 5 and 10 percent of the population. A person with dyslexia has difficulty ‘decoding’ words when reading or expressing themselves when writing. The problems can vary from phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short term memory, or rapid naming. Dyslexia can take mild or more severe forms, and symptoms vary from person to person.

Our Consultant Behavioural Optometrist has a specialist interest in Dyslexia, ADHD, ASD, Visual Stress, etc

The most common symptoms of dyslexia are:

Slow reading and writing speed
Spelling problems
Problems with reading fluency and organised and clear expression when writing
Problems understanding new and difficult words
Poor organisation and time management
Avoiding reading and writing when possible

Dylexia and Colorimetry treatment

Treatment with coloured overlays or tinted lenses can be used to alleviative some of the symptoms of learning difficulties such as dyslexia, and make them easier to cope with.

There is also a large percentage of children and indeed adults who are not identified as being dyslexic but still suffer with similar symptoms. The appropriate coloured overlay or precision tinted lenses can also help this group of individuals.

It is therefore important that overlays should not be reserved only for those pupils who have been identified as being in need of specific help. They should be available to any child who does not naturally like to look at books.

Do you have any of these symptoms?

Visual Stress

Visual Stress is a condition which is also known as “Mears-Irlen” syndrome. Visual stress refers to reading difficulties, light sensitivity and headaches from exposure to disturbing visual patterns. It can be responsible for print distortion and rapid fatigue when reading.

The severity of visual stress symptoms can vary from person to person. The symptoms can occur despite normal vision. Approximately 5% of the population is severely affected by visual stress and 20% to a lesser degree.

Symptoms of visual stress include:

Movement of print
Blurring of print
Letters changing shape or size
Letters fading or becoming darker
Patterns appearing
Sometimes described as “worms” or “rivers” running through print

Illusions of colour – blobs of colour on the page or colours surrounding letters or words
Rapid tiring
Headache or eyestrain

Signs of visual stress include:

Moving closer to or away from page
Becoming restless
Using finger as a marker

Skipping words and lines
Rubbing eyes and blinking excessively
Low self esteem

When we look at someone wearing a very stripy shirt it may feel uncomfortable for us to look at and it may “make our eyes go funny”. This effect can be seen by many individuals who look at print as this is often a “stripy pattern”.

Symptoms of visual stress are not always immediately obvious. Many individuals who suffer with this condition believe the discomfort they feel when reading or the distortions they experience on the page are “normal” and experienced by everyone. That is until someone presents them with an appropriate colour and they realise that reading can become more comfortable and even enjoyable.

The simple application of an overlay at an early stage could save years of anxiety and prevent the downward slide in confidence which occurs in most cases where children struggle to read.