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Do you see what I see? All you need to know about Irlen Syndrome

By Sarah Smye-Rumsby BA (Hons) QTS
Education Consultant
Dolphin Computer Access Ltd

Do you have students who experience problems with reading that you can't quite put your finger on? Maybe they have dyslexia? Actually, they seem to lose concentration really quickly, so maybe it's attention deficit disorder? Or perhaps they are simply poor readers?

However, there may be more to it than meets the eye; maybe they just don't see the pages of a book in the same way that you do. In this article, Dolphin's Education Consultant Sarah Smye-Rumsby takes a look at Irlen Syndrome, identifying some of the methods which are available to help students affected.

What is Irlen Syndrome?

Irlen Syndrome (also known as Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome) is named after American therapist Helen Irlen, who wrote a paper in 1980 on the use of coloured overlays aiding the reading abilities of people who experienced difficulties with reading.

Irlen Syndrome is a visual perception disorder, or in other words, affects the way the brain processes what you see. People with Irlen Syndrome often experience difficulties with reading, whether reading a book, a magazine or a document or webpage on a computer screen.

According to Irlen.com, there are many reported symptoms of Irlen Syndrome. Symptoms can include:

Reading Problems: People with Irlen often experience general difficulties in reading, including poor comprehension, generally reading slowly, problems tracking from line to line, skipping words or lines and losing their place. This often results in the individual avoiding reading all together.
Writing Problems: Some of the symptoms experienced by people with Irlen involve difficulties in writing, including difficulties in copying, unequal letter size, writing up or downhill, and inconsistent spelling.
Light Sensitivity and discomfort: People with Irlen may be bothered by glare and bright lighting. Some individuals experience physical symptoms and feel tired, sleepy, dizzy, anxious, or irritable. Others experience headaches, mood changes, restlessness or have difficulty staying focused.

For a full list of symptoms, visit Irlen.com.

Who does Irlen Syndrome affect?

For those of you who are not familiar with Irlen syndrome, you may be surprised by the amount of people who are thought to be affected by its symptoms. According to irlenuk.com, research has shown that 12-15% of the general population suffers from Irlen Syndrome. Many are not aware that they have a problem because they assume that everyone experiences the same distortions and physical symptoms.

Irlen syndrome is often categorised as a form of dyslexia, as a lot of the symptoms are very similar. Although it is accepted as a homogenous condition, Irlenuk.com continue to suggest that up to 47% of those who are dyslexic, autistic, suffer from learning difficulties or have ADHD, are affected by Irlen syndrome.

What do people with Irlen Syndrome see?

Essentially, people with Irlen Syndrome see the printed page very differently, even if they don't realise it. People with Irlen Syndrome may see standard text in a number of different ways, for example:

Some people with Irlen syndrome see blurry text
Image starts. Image of blurry text to demonstrate how some people with Iren Syndrome view text. Image ends.

Others may see rivers appearing between the words

Image starts. Image of text with river-like white spaces running through the words in each line to demonstrate how some people with Irlen Syndrome see text. Image ends.
For other, lines of text may overlap each other

Image starts. Image of text with lines overlapping each other to demonstrate how some people with Irlen Syndrome see text. Image ends.
Some people experience distortions where the text appears shaky

Image starts. Image of wobbly text to demonstrate how some people with Irlen Syndrome see text. Image ends.
For other people, text may appear as if it were in a whirlpool
Image starts. Image of text as if being dragged into a whirlpool to demonstrate how some people with Irlen Syndrome view text. Image ends.

For other people, the text can become washed out

Image starts. Image of blotchy washed out text to demonstrate how some people with Irlen Syndrome see text. Image ends.
What is clear is that when you see the world through the eyes of a learner with Irlen Syndrome, you can very quickly understand where his or her reading difficulties stem from.

Practical strategies

The Irlen method is a system which is intended to improve reading difficulties associated with scotopic sensitivity syndrome by using colour filters.

For help when reading:

Image starts. Image of colour overlays used to assist readers with Irlen Syndrome. Image ends. Schools and organisations often make use of coloured overlays to assist people with Irlen Syndrome with their reading. These overlays can come in very useful for reading from worksheets or textbooks.

Top tip: As an additional practical strategy, you may also want to provide colour overlays for students to use with their student planners.

Help when using a computer:

Image starts. Screenshot of a colour wash applied to a computer screen by Dolphin SaySo. Image ends. Computer software to support students with dyslexia, such as Dolphin SaySo, includes colour wash facilities to reduce the contrast of black text on a white background on the computer screen. These colour wash options can be extremely useful in helping individuals to view the computer screen more comfortably.

Top tip: When displaying text on an interactive whiteboard in class, why not put a colour wash over the screen so all your students can read the text? Varying the colour wash to find out what works best for different learners can also be a great way to identify previously hidden reading difficulties.

Irlen lenses:

Image starts. Image of coloured Irlen lenses. Image ends. As well as the practical strategies outlined above, some individuals decide to go down the medical route in order to overcome Irlen syndrome. Irlen centres throughout the UK and worldwide help both individuals and companies to assess the presence of Irlen Syndrome and to prescribe remedies. Irlen diagnosticians are certified to test and determine your customized spectrum filter, which are worn as Irlen glasses. A useful link to a list of Irlen centres is available at IrlenUK.com.

More information:

Recently, the BBC aired a documentary following ex-Eastenders actress Kara Tointon. The documentary is called 'Don't call me stupid' and follows Kara as she is prescribed Irlen lenses to assist with reading as part of her battle with dyslexia:

More information is available on the BBC website
Clips from the documentary are available on YouTube

In additional there is a whole host of information about Irlen Syndrome is available on the web. Popular sites include:

The Irlen institute: www.Irlen.com
Irlen centres in the UK: www.IrlenUK.com

Try colour overlays for yourself:

Dolphin are giving away FREE Irlen rulers. To order your free set of 10 Irlen rulers, email info@yourdolphin.com today.

Image starts. Image of SaySo reading rulers. Image ends.

About the author

Meet Sarah Smye-Rumsby