Meares-Irlen Syndrome

[Jerbil]

Went to SPLD clinic today. Confirmed Meares-Irlen syndrome. DS1 has been given overlays, a colour he chose and we have to ask school to change the background colour on the electronic whiteboard. I'm hoping this isn't difficult?

I'm amazed at how some of the Professionals pick up on something like DS1 standing up and looking down on the paper. I thought he did it cos he's a fidget, but apparently it reduces the glare from the white paper! and i thought he was just being silly looking over the top of his glasses, but he is struggling with focussing through his glasses when he hasn't been wearing them for a few hours so now he has to wear them all the time. So impressed with him today, kept them on all day - phew!

They still need to assess other things such as visual perception, but he was in there over an hour today.

First confirmed diagnosis of anything! We have to do exercises every day and they will take approximately 30 mins so I'm thinking homework may need to go on the backburner while we concentrate on these.

Really glad things are moving forward for you jerbil.

I hope the overlays and exercises help.

At a school I worked in they would photocopy worksheets, SATs papers, etc onto blue (his prefered colour) paper for the child with Irlen syndrome. He was the only child DX in a school of 300, so it may be new for your school. I don't think he had blue exercise books, though, but that must be possible. Good luck with his exercises.

Jerbil

Meares-Irlen syndrome in research is referred to as Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS) and is one of the underlying visual processing issues that cause the dyslexic symptom.
You could also have a look at Irlen Coloured Filters for Reading: a Six-Year Follow-up you can choose the web pages background colour online

Thanks everyone. As they said school need to change the background colour on their electronic whiteboards I am assuming it is also sensible for me to ask for green paper to write on rather than using the small whiteboards with a black marker they get given each morning. The Opthalmologist did say not to bother buying loads of green paper just yet to see how he reads with the overlay, but if they have some green paper hanging around in school it might be worth a try.

dolfrog - off to read your links thanks

jerbil - Can he have coloured glasses instead, much easier to manage than changing the colour of everything he reads.
Irlens & visual stress is about so much more than the ability to read it can have an impact on his visual perception skills etc when out & about, cause migranes, stomach ache, fatigue etc.

Jerbil - school changed the colour of the background of the IWB for my 2 no problem at all.

(did turn out I'd been advised wrong and they didn't actually need it though )

Although I totally agree, if it helps you must get him glasses rather than trying to change everything for him.

Glad the SpLD clinic we're good. What did the say about eye tracking and convergence insufficiency?

Did the recommend a writing slope? That also helps with vision.

Also my OT told school DS couldn't copy off the board, and they always print off stuff for him to copy now. Ie he can copy from something next to him, but not from something on the IWB, because it requires too much head/eye movement.

What kind of exercises did they give him? Retained reflex ones or eye ones?

DD1 has SSS that was dx at 8 she hid it well as she is extremely bright she had overlays then purple glasses she's now 20. DD2 was recently dx by college aged 16, every year at parents evening I complained to high school over her spelling etc but she has ADHD so it was put down to that she has leaf green overlays and is reading books like she used to do she has also been allocated extra help for exams etc. Bloody school let her down she also suffered awful headaches for years they've practically vanished she never realised it wasn't normal to see the pages like did.

I did wonder about the glasses but they like to do a trial using the overlay first. If they choose to use the overlay and ask for it for a school term then they'll recommend the glasses. The previous optician had said that DS1 shouldn't be copying from the board but the only response I got from the teacher was that she couldn't see a problem. They haven't completed his visual perception tests yet, another 6 weeks till we go back. The exercises are all visual intended to train his eyes to go from left to right. This is for the tracking. She held up 2 torches and had him look at one light then the other. He was fine 100% on this, then she turned the lights off and he had to initiate the movement rather than being attracted to the light. He couldn't do it. As she said, that part is the brain not the eyes.
They haven't recommended any writing slope at the moment. I wonder of the OT will though, he's due to see one about June/July.

When you go back ask if they have a computer program with eye tracking exercises on it.

We've used 'home therapy system' for that, and it's been far, far more effective than the manual exercises we were doing before.

This Irlen syndrome thing is a bit weird. Like I said coloured overlays were recommended for both my kids - and it turned out neither of them needed them.

Although if you do need them, they make a huge difference. It just seems the test for it isn't very good IYSWIM.

Get the SpLD team to recommend in a letter that DS doesn't copy off the board, then the teacher will have to follow his recommendations.

Hi Indigo Yes. I was slightly surprised at the technical way they tested for the colour of the overlays... do you like this one? what about this one? and this one? haha I was told to wait because the colour they need is very individual when we could've just bought some and tried 'em. But then, once the first was chosen she did try and double it up to make a new colour, but true to form DS1 had chosen and wasn't changing.

So do your DCs have Irlen then? How have you found school on it? I have been warned that not all believe it exists! Another battle I could do without (you'e read enough of my threads).

I will ask about the computer programs thanks

No, my 2 don't have Irlen.

It def exists, but is very rare. And of course a lot of kids have wrongly been prescribed overlays.

AFAIK if he really has Irlen he'd report the letters move or are blurry or reading gives him a headache or something like that.

Finding reading easier with a coloured overlay is 100% normal and does not indicate irlens.

My 2 just had eye tracking problems and convergence insiffuciency. Which are ver common problems. DDs eye tracking problems were extremely bad, and it made it impossible for her to learn to read. DS can read fine.

However the manual vision therapy DD did didn't help at all. They've both just finished computerised vision therapy. It's helped DS an awful lot. He says "it's like a plastic screen has been removed from in front of my eyes"

DD has also been helped. We go back next week and I'll hopefully find out if her eye tracking problems are all gone or if we need to continue therapy. She can pretty much read now. Her reading age has gone up over 2 years in the last 3 months.

jerbil. make sure he has a full colour test as even a slight variance in the colour can make a huge difference it is important to ge tit exactly right before going for glasses.
Google professor Arnold Wilkins, he has written huge amounts on visual stress & irlens. DS2 has seen his at colchester uni & also answered email questions for us.

just joined mumsnet tonight and i'm so glad i did, got loads of info on mearse irlen, my two kids have just been diagnose after fighting for years with primary school and they are now in 1st and 3rd yrs of high school, wish i'd know about this before, it was a work colleague who put me onto it, my kids were diagnosed in Caladonian university eye clinic they were fantastic, i had to pay but it was worth it, my problem is still with school, i provided them with relevant information and help needed and still being ignore by some teachers, but i'm fighting this all the way, i can believe how the education system overlooks this, the changes they have to make doesn't cost money or much time or hastle to them but it can make so much of a difference to our children, why cant they do this without us having to fight them every step of the way, well like yourselves i wont be giving up on this. thanks to all of you for your very informative and helpful posts keep up the good work and i'll post myself too with information

Hi Maggy9 Agree - it's a great board. A massive support.
I started a new thread yesterday following my experience at school yesterday. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/1416374-LEA-have-a-right-to-not-recognise-a-condition-diagnosed-in-another-Borough
Had a mixed response from school LSA says LEA may not support this condition hence the new thread. However, SENCO has said as long as it's NHS OK. They definitely ignore the private stuff.
I've found that once you'e paid for one thing they are so sceptical and everytime I open my mouth they ask me if I've paid for this or that just so they can knock it down.
I liken it to trying to build a sandcastle and having the brat from down the beach come and jump on it!

hi jerbil i no this is a godsend to us

have you looked at the irlen institute website, i emailed them asking for info and got a reply right away, the stated that mearse is a registered disability so will need to look into this i've put link for you for the uk website and the contact details for different areas

www.irlenuk.com/centres.htm

heres the link hope it helps

Thanks for that. I wasn't aware it was registered. That's good news considering the first reaction from school was to dispute the facts. Having said that the SENCO seems to have a different attitude and meeting her today. Fingers crossed.