It was in 1983 that an American psychologist Helen Irlen discovered a perceptual problem caused by light sensitivity. Irlen found that some students benefited from the use of coloured overlays. The overlays seemed to work by filtering out light that caused distortions to print. The problems appeared to be worse with black print on white paper. Some children and adults experience visual / perceptual distortions when reading a page of print. Sometimes these distortions are obvious to the subject and sometimes not, but can include:
- The feeling that the page is too bright or glaring
- The letters appear to move or blur
- Shapes or rivers appear through the text

If these symptoms are present (and we think they can affect 10% of children severely and a further 10% less severely) they can cause not only a reading problem but also headaches and a lack of interest in reading.

Take a Meares-Irlen Syndrome test.

The symptoms of Meares-Irlen Syndrome are:

• The feeling that the page is too bright or glaring
• The letters appear to move or blur
• Shapes or rivers appear through the text

The symptoms of Meares-Irlen Syndrome can be alleviated by changing the colour of the page, click here to take the test.

The examination would include a more accurate analysis of the role of colour by using an instrument called an Intuitive Colorimiter. This machine uses up to 7000 tints to measure exactly which colour helps the individual and can then be incorporated into a pair of glasses. Scientists are still not sure what causes this problem but believe that the visual area of the brain can be over-excited by the striped pattern of text in certain individuals. By changing the colours, this stimulation to the brain is reduced or eliminated. The appropriately prescribed glasses cannot only dramatically improve reading, but also handwriting and eliminate headaches.