A light filtering system has brought some hope to the thousands of sufferers of visual dyslexia in Ireland. Niamh Hooper reports
What do Orlando Bloom, Tom Cruise, Liv Tyler and Keira Knightley have in common, apart from being Hollywood darlings with enviable bank balances? All of them have publicly acknowledged they suffer from dyslexia.
They're obviously not alone. It is estimated that 10 per cent of children suffer from the condition to varying degrees. In the arena of visual dyslexia - a malfunction of the eye-brain communication system that results in a person having difficulty reading and writing - there have been major breakthroughs in research.
Scientists have discovered that light filtering can dramatically reduce the symptoms of visual dyslexia and improve the quality of life for sufferers. With the aid of blue, green, purple, orange, yellow or red filtering glasses or a coloured lamp over their desk, former sufferers are being released from the frustrating shackles of the condition to fulfil their full potential. No longer do problems with their Ps and Qs, Bs and Ds and 6s and 9s hold them back.
For the 400,000 children in Ireland with perceptual problems, the news is good as this cutting edge treatment is now available in Ireland, with the opening of The Dyslexia Clinic in Dublin's Harold's Cross. The only clinic of its kind in Ireland, Patricia Dalton's centre is a franchise of the established Orthoscopic Clinics in the UK.
Endorsed by the Irish Association of Dispensing Opticians and the National Association of Parents Support, the clinic has helped hundreds of children and adults since opening last year.
A dispensing optician, Patricia Dalton worked with Vision Express and Specsavers before discovering her niece was having problems with reading. Prompted to help her, Dalton's research led her to the UK where she studied for two years with Ian Jordan who developed the orthoscopic system. She was so impressed with the system that she has set up her own centre here.
"The Orthoscopic System is the most up-to-date prescribing system worldwide that there is for patients with perceptual problems," she says. "Using a computerised set of instruments we see how well a patient responds to colour. We then optimise the exact percentage of colour tint that's right for them and prescribe them in a pair of lenses."
Unlike someone going into the optician and being advised, for example, a yellow filter is good to wear for night driving, Orthoscopics is very individual-led, Dalton says. "The various different colours aren't good for certain things per se. They are specifically for people with perceptual problems who see the words jumbled up on the page before them. We'll know straight away when doing an assessment with a child if we can help and which colour is best. After that we find the colour best suited to the specific problem, we fine-tune the exact percentage of tint to optimise the improvement experienced."
The results have been dramatic.
"The Orthoscopic System is making a huge difference to the lives of lots of children," Dalton says. "Straight away a child who can benefit from it will project their voice more easily, breathe more fluently and see the words on the page much easier. If the print is small, they'll always say the print is bigger even though they are not wearing prescription glasses. The results are very immediate."
The coloured lenses work by blocking out different wave-lengths of light and can be incorporated into prescription glasses. The ideal age to have a child tested is between six and eight, she says.
Should a child not wish to wear lenses, a desk lamp is also available. "Whilst 80 per cent of people need only one uniform colour to correct the condition, in some cases an individual might need blue for school because of fluorescent lighting but green for home. So instead of having two pairs of glasses they could always use the Optimeyes light when they are doing their homework."
Visual dyslexia - which manifests as the inability to properly decipher printed text and is often experienced as words moving and blurring - is the most common form of dyslexia. It is connected to the auditory and language dyslexias and short-term memory and symptoms include eye strain, headaches and migraines due to the brain's inability to process the information.
In a recent BBC documentary, a 14-year-old boy with dyslexia and dyspraxia (problems with balance) described how words moved when he read. With a 70 per cent green lens prescribed by Ian Jordan, there was a dramatic difference in his reading and he was able to walk in a straight line and in balance for the first time.
Meanwhile in Ireland, 14-year-old Stephanie Doyle's dyslexia meant the words and certain letters she would see on the page were all mixed up. "I was very slow at reading and when we did a test in school it showed that I was three years behind. It was really frustrating," she says. Although diagnosed four years ago, she only got a pair of blue glasses last year.
"I think they're really good and have helped me a lot. I used to have to read with my finger under the words. I don't anymore and I used to get bad headaches but I don't get them anymore either," says the second year student. "I can concentrate easier and have more confidence."
The Dyslexia Association of Ireland director, Anne Hughes, says: "There are people who experience difficulty focusing on black print on a white background and for them the use of light filters can be beneficial." If concerned about a child, indications they may be suffering from perceptual difficulties include problems with their short-term memory, inversions and reversals.
"My niece was assessed when she was in sixth class and she's in second year now," Dalton says proudly. "Her whole world has opened up and she is absolutely flying."