Yesterday a story appeared in Reuters discussing a new study arguing that special colored overlays used by children with Irlen Syndrome may not provide immediate improvement in reading skills.
If you are not familiar with Irlen Syndrome, it is a problem with the brain’s ability to process visual information. It can affect academic and work performance, behavior, attention, the ability to sit still and concentration.
According to Dr. Helen Irlen, sufferers may experience:
• 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
• Low motivation
• Low self-esteem
Some symptoms include:
Light sensitivity
Reading problems
Discomfort
Writing problems
Depth perception issues
You can read more about it on The Irlen Method website.
As a former educator, as well as someone who has personally benefited from a professional Irlen screening, I have witnessed and experienced first hand the improvement Dr. Irlen suggests. In my case, immediate improvement in reading was not the goal. Instead I was looking for help with blurry lines, white haze and excruciating headaches I experienced when reading.
As an adult I was already an excellent reader, however I could only read for short periods of time before the onset of severe nauseating headaches. I also suffered from a vision-impairing white haze that resulted from staring at the bright white pages of educational textbooks.
After my screening, I was told to stop the use of harsh fluorescent lighting and was given Irlen overlays to place over the pages as I read from them.
I purchased four halogen lamps and placed them throughout my classroom, and from that day on the light switch for the fluorescent overhead lights remained in the off position.
That simple act was a gift to my students, and myself, as an immediate calm came over the room. The students, who were 5th graders, didn’t grasp the science of the switch but constantly made comments as to how they felt better in my classroom.
My overlays were an added level of support. Using them I was able to stare at textbooks every day and go home without headaches. (I should add that I am a contact lens wearer, and I see my eye doctor yearly to update my prescription. Before I was screened at the local Irlen center, I was told to have my eyes checked by my doctor to rule out other causes.)
The nice thing about the overlays was that they provided me with reading comfort even when I couldn’t control lighting conditions. Years after I left teaching, I was still using them while working in traditional offices where dimming the overhead fluorescent lighting was not allowed.
Along with my experience, I watched a student transform under the use of the overlays. This was a smart child, but he wasn’t excelling as I knew he could. I was a brand new teacher at the time, so I looked to my mother for help. She was a veteran reading specialist who helped students with a number of performance and comprehension issues including Dyslexia.
She is retired now, but during her tenure she was one of the most gifted educators I ever encountered. (Family bias aside.)
She was the one who first suggested Dr. Irlen as she had been trained to use the overlays with her own students and was achieving substantial results.
In our school most 5th grade teachers specialized in certain topics and therefore the children would move between teachers for certain subjects. (If you’re wondering, I specialized in math and science.)
I first noticed something was wrong with this child when after my lighting change, he would return from the other teacher’s room (who continued to use the fluorescent lighting) with blood shot eyes. He would lay his head on his desk and just looked beat.
Without fail, within an hour of being in my room, he perked up, his eyes returned to normal and his energy reappeared. This was enough for me to commit to always using halogen lighting in my classroom.
He began using the overlays, and of course the other children were very interested in this new “toy”. They took turns trying them out and sure enough lost interest quickly – children and adults who are not experiencing issues obviously won’t experience benefits from the overlays.
This ten year old who couldn’t keep his desk in order, treated the overlays like gold. He religiously pulled them out and placed them on his book whenever we were reading. I had extras stored to replace damaged sheets, but over the course of our year together, I rarely had to switch his out with fresh ones. Even at ten, he understood the difference they made.
Now when he left my room, he had a tool to help him. So, did he return looking normal and bright eyed? Not quite. He looked much better than he had, and he returned smiling instead of worn down. Understand, even with the overlays, he was no match for the lighting, so it wasn’t perfect. He could read at length and easily keep up with the assignments though, and he could better endure the time away.
This child was not Dyslexic. He was not a poor student. He was a bright child who was experiencing problems that before my introduction to Irlen’s methods, I did not know existed.
Now this account is of course anecdotal.
The many researchers, scientists, and professionals who read my network of sites will no doubt be thinking this, and they’re right. I am purposely not recounting grade point increases or testing performance, because this was not a controlled study.
This is my experience, and the experience of my student as told by me.
Stories like the one that appeared in Reuters yesterday are important no matter which way they sway because they encourage the continuation of the discussion. Because of that story many of you are hearing about Dr. Helen Irlen for the first time. You will explore her findings and make decisions for yourselves, your children and your students.
As a health and educational network, Brain Pages routinely attracts educators of all levels, and I encourage you to research the lighting in your classrooms and share your findings in the comments.
I also make a personal plea to textbook publishers to stop printing on stark white paper. It is painful for many and in my opinion unnecessary. I am a voracious reader and am grateful that non-textbooks are printed on a much softer background. (And yes, this techie is still old school when it comes to reading. I like to hold an actual book in my hands.)
If you have experience with the Irlen Method or have any questions or information to add, please make your voice heard in our comments below. I would love to hear from you.
About the founder, Erin Matlock
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8 Comments On This Post
I often see patients in my office that have used colored overlays to help with comfort of reading and improvement of visual function. As a specialist in learning related vision disorders, I have a great interest in anything that will help my patients. It is my experience that those who feel improvement with colored overlays also have an underlying functional vision problem that is the root cause of the problem. Often with vision therapy, this problem can be fixed. This reduces or eliminates the need for these colored filters.
These vision problems are very common, and also very misunderstood. Seeing words wander on a page, or come in and out of focus, or discomfort while reading can be a sign of an underlying vision problem with focusing, tracking, or eye teaming/depth perception.
I am in no way stating that colored filters should not be used. I have had patients that continue to use the filters post-therapy. Anything that will help a person to feel comfortable to read is worth looking into. However, I would suggest if you are having these symptoms that you visit with a Developmental Optometrist. These optometrists are specially trained to identify and treat these problems. You can find one in your area by going to covd.org.
Jacqui and Maya, you can purchase the official overlays here:
http://irlen.com/index.php?s=overlays
I would encourage you to seek out an Irlen specialist in your area who can give you more information and perform the official test. Depending on your school district, there may be a diagnostician on staff who can do this for you. (This was the case in my school district in Texas.)
I will second Madelyn’s detailed reply in that it’s not a matter of buying any colored piece of plastic. I realize there is a cost concern, but the Irlen organization is absolutely where you need to be researching and moving forward with this.
where can I buy the overlays? or can I just use a coloured piece of paper?
Thank you,
Maya
I chime in here as the founder & developer of the world’s first ADD-specific Coach Training (comprehensive, multi-year & not currently offered – won’t be offered again until mid-late 2012 – explaining one source of my expertise, not marketing a class!)
In addition to my Meds Module, I also covered “Alternatives” (meaning non-pharm interventions). Irlen was one I covered – supplemented for later classes when 2 grads in my 1st group became Irlen screeners – the late Dr. Francena Hancock and her grown daughter Sarah Shaffer, whose integrity was unassailable. I began to research in earnest after their involvement, because they would not have been involved unless they knew it to be a genuinely helpful intervention.
I won’t repeat what can be found on numerous Irlen sites, but I will encourage any of your readers to check it out for themselves. This is not “ghost science” – it has solid brain-based knowledge behind it (see Rick’s post above re: problems with scientific studies)
BRAND is key, here (I have NO connection personally, btw) — it is not simply “colored filters” you want to look for. There is much more to the science of color vibration than the way color looks to our eyes; Helen Irlen has background & experience. Some of the other filter providers may *seem* to have solid credentials, but I do not recommend their products because they have not been developed with the academic rigor that the Irlen organization deems essential (and I agree, after a lot of research – online & anecdotal) Go with IRLEN, not a substitute. They do all they can to keep costs low, and their tiered screening procedure will reject you at the first sign that lenses or filters won’t help.
There is some excellent anecdotal on the improvement of ADD symptoms with the lenses, btw. I won’t enter the debate over whether “real” ADD was ever present to begin with, but I do want to encourage anyone who is struggling with ADD symptoms (whether successfully medicated or a non-responder) to check out the Irlen site and make an appointment for an initial screening. It may help you lower your dose, but even if you must still use the same meds protocols to manage, all candidates report improvements in areas meds don’t seem to improve much (non-candidates get screened OUT before they waste money, btw)
One last suggestion – make sure you are on the official Irlen site to begin your research. Loads of personal stories and an interesting technique that allows you to experience filters to a degree – “showing” as well as telling.
Many of her screeners and fans now have “Irlen” sites too – which you certainly want to check out, but don’t automatically believe that what any of them say represents what the organization stands for and does. Get your info from the horses’ mouth first — then you can branch out.
As you research, I echo Rick’s comment – expect a visual/”brain-recognition” intervention to do what it is designed to do — it won’t teach skills, it will only make your brain receptive to learning them. My personal policy (since we can’t read EVERYTHING on the web), is to immediately run away from any information that discounts illogically or tries to scare me AWAY from something *else* so I’ll buy whatever they’re selling. So “do this instead of those dangerous medications” gets a pass — as does “my daughter still can’t read, even with the filters”
Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, SCAC, MCC – (blogging at ADDandSoMuchMore and ADDerWorld – dot com!)
Can you tell me more about these overlays? Can they just be celophane or do they need to be some special wizz bang (read expensive) piece of plastic? would be interested to try it with a child in my grade 5/ 6 class. I love the idea of natural light and have the curtains open in my room as much as possible and I can see the difference in the kids on days where we have to have the fluro lights on.
Rich,
Thanks for dropping by! I’ve got to agree with you – while the Irlen filters have been shown to help many students with their reading, I don’t remember the company every promising immediate results.
(Sounds like you had a very smart teacher…)
Sam,
Wow! Now, that’s a testimonial. I find it so interesting that so often, it’s a matter of an “environment” change that allows students to perform at their peak. I happy to hear of your daughter’s success and will be interested to hear about her lenses.
I will say that although the filters worked wonders for me, I did not have the same success with the lenses (unless I was looking at very bright objects). Looking back, I don’t think they were measured correctly as they were very dark and became more of a bother than an aid.
I was interested to read this as my daughter has just had an Iren screening. Though she is very bright and articulate she has struggled with reading, behind the class level and exhausted after school. It got to the point where she was so upset at the thought of attending she would get physically sick. She has only had the overlays for a couple of weeks, but now loves school. I am planning to get her Irlen lenses.
This was a complete life change in her case.
Great story! As a journalist, I have read about, interviewed and written about children, and adults, who have had headaches, light sensitivity or seen letters moving on the page and been significantly helped by wearing Irlen filters. I have also heard many stories of how fluorescent lighting can cause headaches and irritability. Even many years ago, when I was in grade school, I remember the teacher turning off the lights and letting us enjoy the natural sunlight coming into the room to “rest our eyes,” as she put it.
One of the problems with studies is that they don’t factor the human element into their work. How do you measure a headache or irritability? How do you know what a child is seeing on the page? After all, we can look at an optical illusion and see lines and shapes moving, so why would children (and adults) see letters move be so hard to understand? The other problem with the study cited by Reuters was that there was the expectation of immediate results. But that’s not going to happen if someone doesn’t know how to read. Colored overlays can make the letters stay still, they don’t teach reading skills. Again, there are some practical human elements being overlooked by such studies.
Rick