Reading Through Colored Filters

John Bradford describes what to do if your child finds the page is too bright on their eyes.

Some dyslexic children and adults find it hard to read a page of writing due to the 'glare' of the white page. Others find that the words appear to move around or become fuzzy:

Reading through a colored transparent filter - such as tinted spectacles or a transparent plastic sheet specially designed for this purpose - often helps. Different colors suit different people, and a certified Irlen specialist can make a thorough assessment and prescribe suitable lenses.

This page is designed to let you see if the colored backgrounds do make any difference for you or your child when reading. The colors have not been scientifically chosen and do not show well on a computer screen, but have been put here to give you an idea of what is often called 'Irlen Syndrome' (also known as 'Scotopic Sensivity Syndrome' or 'Meares-Irlen Syndrome') after Helen Irlen who pioneered work in this field. One background has been left white so that you can compare and see if another color is easier to read against. This is not a proper test, but is just intended to give you a rough idea of the difference background color can make.

Once upon a time there was a mother pig who had three little pigs. The three little pigs grew so big that their mother said to them: "You are all big now. You are too big to live here any longer. You must go and build houses for yourselves."	Once upon a time there was a little red hen. She lived in a farmyard. One day the little red hen found some grains of wheat. She showed them to the other animals in the farmyard. "Who will help me to plant these grains of wheat?" said the little red hen.
Look at the three bears: daddy bear, mummy bear and baby bear. They all go for a walk. Goldilocks comes to the house. "No one is home", says Goldilocks. "I can go in." Goldilocks wants some porridge. Here is daddy bear's porridge. It is too salty for Goldilocks.	The old man has some turnip seeds. He plants the seeds in his garden. He waters the seeds. The turnip seeds grow. One turnip grows and grows and grows. It is enormous! The old man says:" I want some turnip to eat." He pulls hard but he cannot pull up the enormous turnip.
Jack and his mom have no food in the house. All they have is one cow. She is a good cow, and she gives good milk, but Jack and his mom want food. "We have to get some food", says Jack's mom. "Off you go with the cow and see if you can sell her for some money."	Look at Red Riding Hood. She is at home with her toys. Red Riding Hood has to go to see her grandmother. She is at home in bed. She has to take some cakes for her to eat. The dig, bad wolf is in the forest.

John Bradford.
January 2009.

Girl wearing glasses with Irlen lenses She couldn't believe that letters sit on the page and don't move!

The child that read to me was a 9-year old girl Jessica, who had been recently diagnosed with dyslexia and Irlen Syndrome. Before obtaining her Irlen Lenses, Jessica was hesitant about reading to herself or to her parents and teachers. The words were waving and letters disappearing which made reading almost impossible. When she obtained the lenses she couldn’t believe that letters and words sit on the page and don’t move.

Jessica had never completed reading a whole paragraph before tackling this piece of reading. In fact she had not picked up a book for several weeks, but now that she had her lenses I was hoping that she would be interested in reading. I chose a picture book that showed a lily, a tadpole and a frog, so that Jessica could identify more strongly with the information she was about to read. Jessica was more than happy to begin reading. Jessica stopped reading after three sentences, but instead of giving up, we discussed what she had read so far, so that I could gauge her understanding and involve her in a discussion about what she was reading.

After feeling more settled and happy that she understood what she had just read, Jessica started reading again and continued right through until the end. Jessica was so amazed that she had finished a whole piece of reading that she clapped and jumped up and down with joy!

G.F.., Victoria, Australia, a student on the Dyslexia Certificate course.

Fuzzy writing

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