Visual Stress and coloured overlays

A quick summary of Visual Stress (sometimes called Irlen Syndrome, Meares-Irlen Syndrome, Scotopic Sensitivity, Visual Stress or Visual Dyslexia)

• About 30% of the population are uncomfortable with black text on white backgrounds because their visual cortex is oversensitive to certain wavelengths.
  
  
• If you filter out the problem wavelength with someone who has this sensitivity the text becomes clearer, and headaches and migraines can be 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.
  
  
• To see if reading through colour works for you, just get a mixed pack of ten reading rulers or page overlays and try them out.
  
  
• For schools, the visual stress assessment pack can quickly screen struggling readers to discover if an overlay or reading ruler could help.
  
  
  

  If you want details

  Many children with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and autistic spectrum disorders have obvious difficulties with reading and writing that impair their performance in the classroom. These disabilities are often, and correctly, attributed to the processing problems that have been identified as part of their condition. However there are many cases when a child who has been identified as, say, dyslexic, experiences reading problems that are not in fact a consequence of those "dyslexic" difficulties that are usually identified with reference to a phonological processing deficit, but which result from an entirely separate (although often co-occurring) condition which, because it exists alongside the dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADD/HD or autism, can either be masked by it and therefore not addressed as a separate issue, or confused with it with the result that other aspects of the disability may be neglected. This condition is a visual-perceptual disorder variously called Meares-Irlen Syndrome, Scotopic Sensitivity, visual stress or simply Visual Dyslexia. In many cases it can be remedied by a very simple and inexpensive intervention: reading through a coloured overlay that changes the colour of the page.

  A Coloured Overlay made all the difference

  "It was the most important moment of my life. For the first time in my life I could see text clear as glass. I was astounded…. All I could think to say was 'How did they do that?'"

  The above quotation (from "Reading Through Colour", by Professor Arnold Wilkins, Wiley 2003) of the transformation of one teenage boy's experience through the simple procedure of changing the background colour of the text he was attempting to read is in itself startling; but perhaps more significant still is the fact that this is not an exceptionally unusual experience. According to Wilkins, up to 20% of the population of the UK schools where he conducted his research suffered in varying degrees from visual distortions or discomfort associated with reading. The background to Professor Wilkins's research, and the conclusions he draws, are described in detail in his book "Reading through Colour". Results, arrived at using a double-blind protocol, were consistent and measurable, and prove objectively that reading through a correctly selected coloured overlay can significantly improve reading speed and comprehension over an extended time period.

  One sufferer remembers how, as a child, she used to try and physically pin down the words with her hand as they kept appearing to jump off the page. What is consistent across the spectrum of people, especially children, who experience undiagnosed Visual Stress is that THEY ASSUME THAT THIS IS THE NORMAL READING EXPERIENCE. " Reading is just not for me", they say, and gradually fall behind their peers in an environment that says " Reading is a must for everyone". Written work is also affected as they have difficulty reading their own writing and are therefore inhibited in the processes of correct letter formation. And of course once the work is written down, often mis-spelt and written untidily, the Visual Stress child is unwilling and often unable to access it and it is useless for learning. Frustration, loss of motivation, poor concentration and consequent disruptive behaviour all too often become the norm.
  

  Reducing Symptoms

  Unlike Dyslexia, which is a distinct neurobiological difference and for which there is no "quick fix", the effects of visual dyslexia can often be easily and inexpensively remedied by the use of coloured overlays or lenses. However, although colour can often be the key, not any colour will do. For each individual there is a specific hue (tint) and saturation (depth of colour) that will "work" best, so it is important that a sufficiently wide selection of colours is provided so that everybody's needs are met. In some cases individuals requiring a deeper saturation "double up" two overlays of the same colour to achieve the desired effect. Recent research by Professor Wilkins showed that an insufficient choice of colours reduces the effectiveness of the intervention as measured by increased reading speed in a significant number of cases. In response to this research, the number of tints in the Crossbow range was increased from five to ten. The correct colour is arrived at by a simple process of elimination, whereby each colour is compared in turn with a white page. If it is not apparent that a particular colour makes the text clearer all the combined hues should be tried, as well as the deeper saturation arrived at by doubling up two overlays of the same colour.