Irlen Dyslexia Clinic (Central West)

The individual :

• Says that the print is going blurry or fuzzy,
• Reports letters seeming to run together, or fade or disappear,
• Print on white paper seems to move, either shaking, shimmering or swirling,
• Sees ghosting or doubling of letters and words,
• Avoids reading wherever possible,
• Frequently reverses words, letters or numbers when writing,
• Reads slowly,
• Lacks concentration when reading,
• Cannot read for long without taking a break or looking up from the page,
• Has a tendency to sit in class and daydream,
• I easily distracted in class,
• Eyes hurt, ache or burn. Eyes feel dry, sandy, scratchy or itchy. Eyes feel tired or strained,
• Finds copying from the blackboard difficult,
• Has difficulty copying from a book or own work,
• Reads well for a while but shows rapid fatigue after just a few lines or pages,
• Frequently loses place when reading, skipping lines,
• Reads much better earlier in the day, when the eyes are fresher,
• Frequently loses place or skips lines or repeats lines,
• Reads hesitatingly, stopping and starting a lot,
• Has a very narrow span when reading, reading one word at a time and seeing one or two words at a time,
• Frequently leaves our words (often words that are known) or substitutes other words,
• Confuses letters that look alike, like    b,d   m n u   a e I o u,
• Does not notice full stops,
• Has to re-read passages to get the meaning or to remember what has just been read,
• Confuses little words of the same shape, like was/saw, for/of, dog/boy,
• Is frequently car sick,
• When riding in a car, becomes sleeping or drowsy,
• It should be stressed that not all of the above symptoms need be present for Irlen tinted lenses to be helpful. If several of these symptoms persist despite eye checks by an optometrist or ophthalmologist and the prescription of mild stress lenses, then an Irlen diagnostic assessment is recommended.