Irlen's Syndrome

snickers0607

My son has been diagnosed as having Irlens syndrome - he has been using a coloured overlay which has improved his reading. He now needs glasses which the NHS does not supply and I have been quoted £150 - £180 to get a pair - can anyone help with better deal or more information at least - thanks.

mamahutch

Sorry I can't help but would love to hear from anyone who can. I have had to order some irlens lenses for my daughter at a cost of £266 including a full report and assessment. On top of that I have to buy frames from an optician and pay for fitting. It sounds like you're getting a good deal! I've also had conflicting info about tinted lenses - the opticians say they can supply tinted lenses to match the ones we get from irlens in America and will be cheaper but the irlens centre say the opticians tinted ones will not be the same and won't do the job.

Mojisola

My son had his from the NHS. He was tested by our optician, who had a personal interest in dyslexia but wasn't working for Irlen, and she arranged the tinted glasses.

snickers0607

Hi thanks - and I am glad its not just me who is having problems with this - I have spoken to different people and some get the lenses for free and most like me have had to pay! I found a really good private practice in Chester they have tested my son's eyes for just about everything and confirmed the Irens syndrome - but they did a far better and indepth test for the colour sensitivity than the hospital did - this has resulted in 2 slightly different coloured lenses.

My deal wasnt that good - it worked out at £288!!! - they reduced the price by £80 by giving my son the smallest prescription and thereby being able to claim the NHS voucher for the lenses and the frames, so all we have had to pay for is the tinting and the cost of the private consultation.

I did feel much better after this test and understood what my son has been going through since starting school.

If I find any more information - I will post it on here.:D

elizabethevelyn

I have Irlen syndrome, and find things much easier if the background is green, I am currently looking into having my mail from the bank, bills etc. in green to help. As I can not afford to have the glasses at the moment. Has anyone already tried this? I am aware that most places will make ajustments if you are hearing impaired or visually impaired but what if you have a learing difficulty?

elizabethevelyn

Sorry I should of mentioned I mean to have the paper green, the text is best for me still in black.

ironholly

I got a pair of tinted lenses done on the NHS. In grimsby they pay for your first pair, this inclueds, lenses, tints, perscription and the frame. Obvusly if you want designer frames you will have to pay extra but if you get the hsopital to asses you, they pay. So if you get a GP refural and get choose diana princes of wales hospital through the book and choose system you might be able to get them free. I think there £200 to by if you want another pair though.

Silaqui

Elizabethevelyn,

I know this is probably really obvious and you probably already do it but I am a teacher and have a student with Irlen's and a few with vatrying degrees of dyslexia. I keep cellophane overlays in the classroom that they can place over books and resources if it's the sort of thing that can't be copied onto colour. It's not a long term solution but might be easier than trying to get the bank to send you green statements. Would be useful for other mail too?

x

krystal8

hi there, my daughter has been diagnosed as having the Irlens syndrome..she does wear the pinkinsh tinted lenses provided by the irlens centre..however, this works out so expensive and currently there is no funding available for the lenses..i was wondering if local opticians would be able to match these tinted lenses?..would probably work out cheaper..wondered if they would be as effective as the lenses from irlens centre..has anyone done this..i would be interested to get feedback from anyone who has?

And we really need to try and get Irlens recognised as a condition that is life long...and can affect young people school life tremendously and also see if we can get some funding and get it more widely recognised through NHS because for some people this condition is going to be a life long one and prob not something one will grow out of...

KHV

I have just qualified as an Irlen Screener. Beware that there are two different types of coloured lenses/glasses. Colourimetry, which is done by a machine at an Opticians produces results where the wearer can see everything in the colour of the prescribed lenses. The Irlen Screening proceedure results in glasses where the wearer can see everything in normal colours. Irlen diagnosticians can provide a range of 53,000 different colour combinations! Colourimetry is far more limited in it's range of colours.

I completely agree this should be available on the NHS as the difference it makes to people's lives is astronomical.

Sabre150

Just for the sake of accuracy, I believe the number of colour combinations via the Intuitive Colorimeter exceed 100,000.