Anybody have Irlen syndrom?

mummytofour

I am sure I suffer from this but am unsure about getting it checked out mainly becasue I have no idea about what's involved in the whole process and who pays for it?? As a poor student I have very little spare money but do have my dyslexia needs assesment next week and was wondering if this would be covered?

Many thanks!

munchings-n-crunchings

Hello Mummytofour,

I don't know very much about the Irleen Syndrome, but think it is connected in some way to dyslexia and visual processing problems.

Although my daughter is not dyslexic, she is autistic and did have an assessment by a research optician, named Ian Jordan, his website is,
http://www.jordanseyes.com

There wasn't any financial help at all, and the assessment and glasses cost me around £350, which my family helped towards, it was either that or risk my daughter being excluded from school.

People will question if these glasses work, and in my daughter's case they have made a huge difference.
They help her process spoken words better, her brain seems to slow down what people say to her, they help her hear people when there is lots of background noise, and they help her visual processing and memory...how she sees words and shapes on the page and how her memory retains the information.
As part of her assessment for Developmental Co-ordination Disorder, sometimes referred to as dyspraxia, the Occupational therapists tested her with and without her glasses, which have dark red lenses. Without her glasses in several sections, she was on the 9th pecentile, which meant 91% of children her age would perform better. Wearing her glasses she waso n the 47th percentile, so quite a significant difference.
I accept that it may not work for everyone, but in the case of my daughter, it has been a positive move, and she has worn her glasses for 5 years.

Feel free to ask any questions,

Good luck

Munchie

skipsmum

Hiya,
DS1 has Irlen Syndrome, was diagnosed by a specialist optician in Canterbury. The appointment was free because he was referred by our family optician. He has coloured sheets to go over his work/reading but not glasses. His reading has been much better since, and he doesnt get the headaches he was getting.
Hope this helps,
Skipsmum

xxdeebeexx

DS1 and DS2 suffer from this and were eventually tested at school. They were then given a coloured overlay to help them. My friend also felt that she needed overlays so bought a pack of reading rulers from crossboweducation.com and found which colour suited her the best and then went on to buy A4 overlays. One side is shiny and one matt. You can combine the overlays to make different colours. Apparently your eyes can get 'desensitised' which I believe means that after a while you may need to change the colours slightly.

DS1 and DS2 liked the reading rulers while friend liked the full page overlays.

When we first heard of these I bought a mixed set of reading rulers from crossbow and tried out the most popular colour (blue) on DS1 his response was amazing. He simple shouted ''I've got lazerbeam eyes!!'.... I guess that meant that he could see the writing better. From the multi pack, we kept the ones that we needed and sold the rest on Ebay to recoupe some of the money.

It may be worth buying the 10 different colours of reading rulers (2x £5.95 +vat) see which colours suit best and then buy overlays/ more of the same colour.


I found the company very efficient and delivery quick.

Good luck

HTH

Dx

jenhug

Hiya my daughter has irlen's too, she wears purple lenses!
We had to pay, it is very expensive but i feel is worth it.
There is aplace in london apparently that offers the same treatment under a different name for free.

My daughter has Asperger syndrome but not dyslexia. there is achecklist here http://www.irlen.org.uk/

GlasweJen

At uni i was given the colour sheet test as part of my needs assessment but i'm pretty sure our uni is one of only few who do this. I had to pay £50 to have a colourometer test to confirm the colour and i was offered help for glasses from the hardship fund but my sight prescription changes so often and i couldn't afford new lenses every time.

mummytofour

After 31 years I finally got in writing that I am dyslexic, a few weeks ago, whoop whoop whoop.

But I am pretty sure I have Irlen syndrome, I have terrible problems with lighting of all kinds and can hardly see in out local sainsbury, as the lights as so bright I have to squint a large amount! I already have coloured over lays, I am violet lol. I suffer from VERY poor short term memory and find it very hard to stay focused. I really suffer at uni with the lights and often find it uncomfortable. Thanks everybody for the info I am def going to find out more as I would like to be assessed, the cost seems a lot tho so I was hoping I could get the LEA to pay... I wont hold my breath tho!

GlasweJen

SAAS wont pay so not sure about the LEA the basis of this is that diagnosis is a medical problem and getting it diagnosed is not directly an educational expense. The glasses are for both education and every day use so some universities will help with the cost but you need to prove that it will aid your education so i wouldn't mention Sainsburys when you ask them for help.