Find out what colored glasses have to do with reading better. Learn about Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome and how it is related to reading.
Ever see people walking around with strange colored sunglasses? You may think that this is just a little odd and you would never pick "that" color for crying out loud. But, for some people these glasses are a necessity.
Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome affects how people see things and can make reading fluently nearly impossible. It is often mistakenly called a form of dyslexia and there isn't much we can do for people with this disability. What they see on the printed page is no where near what others see. The colored glasses can fix that so they see what the rest of the population sees.
People with SSS may see fine when it comes to objects and distance. The written word is the glitch. Their eyes are very sensitive to light so the glare from glossy paper is enough to cause problems. Fluorescent lighting is an irritant.
Gee, do I have it? What are the symptoms?
According to Helen Irlen, an internationally recognized educator, researcher and school psychologist, if you have SSS if you have the following symptoms.
- Get headaches after reading a short time
- Lose your place easily when reading
- Like to read in dim light
- Nausea after reading
- Difficulty catching a ball
- Clumsy
- Eyes tear and blur when reading
- Writing up or downhill
- Inconsistent spelling
- Unequal spacing
- Read slowly or hesitantly
- Misaligned numbers in columns
- Very sensitive to light
- ADD like behaviors when reading
- Difficulty getting on escalators
This sounds very frustrating, doesn't it? And, when it comes to the printed word, dyslexics do not see what the words are supposed to look like because they have never seen the words that way. To find out what dyslexics see and what Helen Irlen did to help some people with tis problem, read more about Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome.
Book review on Reading By The Colors, interview with Helen Irlen, and tips and research information.
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2006 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
