What symptoms to look for?
Light Sensitivity : discomfort or difficulty concentrating in fluorescent light, sunlight, bright lights, glare, lights at night; difficulties with white boards, overhead projectors, bright shiny surfaces and white paper when reading.
Poor Depth Perception : difficulty judging accurately distances or spatial relationships, causing difficulty with stairs, escalators, ball games, driving, perspective and writing.
Eyestrain: physical symptoms are varied and can include fatigue, drowsiness, headaches, fidgeting, distractibility, hyperactivity and stress.
Attention Deficit Disorders : problems concentrating during tasks such as reading, computer work, listening and observing, tests and examinations; stress, hyperactivity, and changes in mood especially in fluorescent lighting.
Contrast and Colour Sensitivity : problems with high contrast, such as black print on white paper, bright colours, busy patterns such as stripes and polka dots.
Restricted Span : inability to read words in groups or see objects in the environment as a whole; this can affect the ability to recognise and understand facial expressions and body language.
Inefficient Reading : skipping words/lines; rereading for information; slow reading rate; problems with tracking; misreading words; putting words in the wrong order and copying from the board.
Distortions : problems include seeing patterns in the background; print moving, fading, disappearing, swirling, blurring, sparkling or shimmering; seeing similar distortions in the environment such as blurriness and movement.
HEADACHES, MIGRAINE, STRESS & TENSION
Headaches vary in type, intensity and cause. Some indicate a serious underlying medical problem and it is always wise to consult your Doctor if you have any worries.
Some people with Irlen Syndrome can find headaches a regular and unwelcome feature of their lives. Glare from the page, or the computer monitor sometimes combines with moving words and floating images to cause sensations very like those of motion sickness.
Poor depth perception can also be a common characteristic of Irlen Syndrome. Judging distances is very difficult, so getting on and off escalators, driving or walking in a crowded space is unnecessarily stressful. Even climbing stairs can be challenging for some. Depth perception can be improved for many through the use of tinted lenses and the resulting reduction in stress and tension in everyday situations can be remarkable.
In our home, school and work environments we are often surrounded by flickering fluorescent lights. Television screens and CRT computer monitors seem to show a steady picture but, in fact, flash between 50 and 100 times per second. Flickering light has been shown to trigger migraine attacks in some sufferers and coloured lenses have proved effective in reducing the frequency of these attacks. People whose headaches stem from traumatic injury to the head or neck (e.g. whiplash, concussion) may also benefit from colour filtration.