Irlen Syndrome

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I watched this little video of a teenager who wrote a book about aspergers, but then he has a video about his family. Him and his younger brother got colored lenses to help with reading better and coordination and more. So I went to www.irlen.com and learned about it. I definitely think I have it. Also I used to have perfect eye sight, than randomly this year I got diagnosed with nearsightedness. But I can see perfectly fine far or near but I can't read far away especially black words on white background. So, I think I just have Irlen Syndrome, and I have the blurred words or they spin around. I was wondering if anyone else has this or got the lenses?

Just wondering.

- Catherine

I read a LOOONG time ago (like around 1998 or 1999) of an autistic girl who had that and she said a lot of autistics do. Her name is Amanda and she calls herself after the "Ailes in the wonderland". Unfortunately she took down that site shortly after putting it up. I am not sure if she put it up agian or not. If anyone knows what I am talking about, and seen that site recently, please give a link.

Regarding nearsightedness, it is possible to be nearsighted and htink you see well -- after all they ask you to read a REALLY small print which you don't normally have to read. The main way of distinguishing nearsightedness from other things is that if you are nearsighted then appropriately chosen minus-prescription will help you see; if it is anything else, then it won't. Now, did they ask you to try lenses in your eye exam? If so, then yes you are nearsighted.

I did. I tend to see 'shimmering' and sort of like lines shooting up and down a page (or any array of lines, like across venetian blinds). But I can still see text ok enough (er, well with reading glasses these days). But I find my 3-D vision is a lot better with the Irlen glasses, and I get less visual overload/confusion with them, also. I never drive without them.

My only complaint about the Irlen people is they are very expensive (or they were 10-15 years ago). I had one pair of expensive glasses made up (which broke after a few years), but since then I've found alternatives that are close enough in color (i.e. shooting glasses; 'orange' in my case works).

Oooh, maybe I should check these out. Visual overload is a major problem for me. My brain says, "That's quite enough visual information for right now, thank you" and just stops processing so that I wind up looking at a bunch of flat, meaningless objects and shapes until my brain kicks into gear again. Very, very scary when driving. I actually have lots of issues with visual processing (I have a nonverbal learning disability), so I wonder whether Irlen lenses would help with those. That would be *amazing*. I don't get any shimmering or anything though.

No they didn't have me try on lenses. They had me try to read the eye chart and I couldn't every got blurry. But the thing is people say nearsightedness you can't see far away objects but I can. I can see everything great. I just can't read things far away. I bought glasses, that they gave me. They just make everything brighter, kind of like HD. But I have no idea. But I took an eye chart online, had the regular white and black and everything was blurry. I changed different colors for the background and for the color pink I was able to read at least 4 lines on the eye chart, but with white and black I could only read line 1, sometimes not even that.

I watched a video and read that they were still pretty dang expensive. And that medicare or insurance doesn't help either. What are shooting glasses? When I try to read my eyes strain, and then my eyes blur and come back to okay I can see.

I believe you're referring to Luke Jackson. I watched a documentary where he and his brother got Irlen lenses, which is where I first heard of it. I haven't been tested but I definitely have it. I have started printing things on green paper, and I use a green overlay when I read books. I find it much easier to read with the green paper or the green overlay. It makes the letters more crisp and clear. I would love to try the glasses, I wonder if they'd take away some of my headaches.

Even typing in the reply box here is difficult for me. I always hit the "preview" button before posting so I can proof read my post because the blue is easier than white. Green would be even better, but blue is fine.

Last edited by buryuntime on 07 Jul 2010, 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

They're basically just wrap-around sunglasses that come with a pack of 5 different colored lenses. I knew from the Irlen testing (and experience, now) that "stock" orange is close enough (though amber isn't, interestingly; so it does seems somewhat specific, at least in my case). The main thing is they only cost about $30.

I don't get much eyestrain, so I can't say how much it might help with that. I've heard of people trying colored overlays to try to get a sense of how much it might help. I'm not sure where to buy those, though.

Yes, Like Jackson. I couldn't remember his name. Same for me that's how I heard of them was from the documentary. I never tried the overlays. Where do you think I could get them from? I totally agree when I type replies on websites it's too much for me.

You could just have light sensitivities and not even have reading problems. Even I read it helps with clumsiness, math problems and writing. So you could benefit from all that.

i think you are talking about how you see print, but i have a problem with striped things and venetian blinds, slatted heating vents etc in my line of vision. and contrasting colors or patterns - they will flicker or blink. i can't read with any of these things in my peripheral vision or with a ceiling fan on above me.

i have orange tinted sunglasses (just cheap ones i found years ago from a gas station or some such) that i sometimes wear to drive or to read.

Irlen lenses are very expensive. there was discussion of this awhile ago and someone said they had found colored plastic notebook dividers at an office store that helped as overlays to read. different colors work for different people.



where do you get these?

Any office supply store. I'm the one who katzefrau is referring to from the other thread. I tried some different colours and found that a dark green one works for me. I cut them into various sizes for different books, and I even carry around the excess edges (size of a standard bookmark), in case of emergency reading.

Cabela's (link).

This one (link) is similar to the one I've got now.

You mentioned that they prescribed glasses to you. If so, then they must have, otherwise they can't legally prescribe glasses. Did they make you look inside a certain mashine? If so, there was a lense there, you just weren't aware of it. If they actually never made you look through mashine and just prescribed glasses without trying any lenses, you should sue the eye doctor since that is not legal.



When they say this phrase they are being vague. What they mean are VERY LITTLE objects (like the letters in the eye chart they made you read). Most nearsighted people DO see the LARGE objects, unless their nearsightedness is very severe.

One thing nearsighted people do experience is that what they see is SLIGHTLY blury (which is why they can't see small objects); but usually they won't notice that brury-ness because they are used to it. Now, from what you describe it is possible that you DO see things blury, in which case that is in fact a nearsightedness (although it is possible to have boht nearsightedness and Irlen).



Glasses can't literally make things brighter because they have no lamp inserted inside them. But it can SEEM that things are brighter because they are less blury. If that is true, then yes you are nearsighted. On the other hand it is also possible that they can make things brighter mecause they make them MORE blury; in this case you are not nearsighted. You have to ask yourself which of the two is the case, it has to be either one or the other. If you are nearsighted, then glasses will make things less blury; if you are not, they will have the opposite effect.