Hi, here's what I know:
1) go to www.irlen.com and read everything on the site even if it
seems like it doesn't apply to you. You can also do a search on their
site for a practitioner close to you. Be aware that the Irlen lenses
are expensive.

2) is it possible that your daughter has astigmatisms, which is an
irregularity to the eye that causes focal problems, not fuzziness,
but rather the ability to make the eyes stay focused on an object and
so make the eyes wander and make it difficult to comprehend
information. You can still see clearly with astigmatisms, and so a
normal eye exam as when you read an eye chart from a distance will
not show that you have astigmatisms. I had reading and comprehension
problems since I started reading and lasted until my late 30's when
one of my eyes finally did get a little fuzzy, and at that time, my
optometrist went through a full exam as opposed to the short "read
the eye chart" exams that I'd had my entire life. She found
astigmatisms in both eyes. As soon as I put on my new glasses, I was
really surprised at how easy it was to read and comprehend. This may
just be my experience and it isn't proven medically, but I know it
worked for me and like to pass the info on, especially for children
as who knows how it would've helped me if I'd been diagnosed when I
was a child.

3) Has your child been prescribed any antibiotics? I had a now
proven but rare antibiotic reaction last year to an antibiotic called
cephalexin, a cephalosporin-type antibiotic. It affected the primary
neurotransmitter in my nervous system, and I had a variety of
symptoms, including vision problems, confusion/concentration
problems, loss of motor coordination, and severe fatigue (the PDR,
which is the "Physician's Desk Reference," lists all but the vision
problems). The vision and confusion/concentration problems were
debilitating as I am in the middle of studying engineering, and they
were bad enough and lasted long enough that I desperately sought out
information such as from this yahoo group because I was getting no
help from my doctors other than a lot of expensive tests that showed
nothing. And, they prescribed antidepressants, which I refused, but
it turns out that they are the last thing that I should have been
prescribed. Almost no doctors seem to know of this reaction, but it
has been documented in medical journals since 1973 worldwide. It is
possible that people with penicillin allergies can also have
cephalosporing allergies, but they will be more of an anaphylactic
shock type of reaction (such as breathing passages swelling). It
also seems that people with sulfa drug allergies may be susceptible,
which was my case. A search of www.pubmed.com and other websites
such as "web of science" through my local university resulted in over
50 documented medical journal articles relating to the reaction. My
vision has not been the same since and has caused me to search for
more than astigmatism correction. My university disability center
suggsted Irlen, and it does seem to help. It is entirely possible
that my eyes would have become this way without the antibiotic
reaction, but it is rather strange that I was fine one day and
started having the problems the evening after starting the
antibiotic. Another member of this group who doesn't write in anymore
and hasn't heard that I have found proof, had a similar reaction (but
worse) to an antibiotic called Ancef, a cephalosporin. So how is the
reaction treated? If you do have the reaction I did, according to the
articles I read, you must be given an EEG which will show that you
have abnormal brain activity that indicates what are called non-
convulsive seizures (no outward convulsions as seen in grand mal
seizures). You must be taken off of the antibiotic. And, you must be
treated immediately with anti-seizure medication. Or, you can let
the symptoms recede on their own, as in my case as I went
undiagnosed. The severity of the symptoms should stop within 3-5
hours, but they may never be resolved completely as seems to be my
case.

I am telling you all this detail in case it may remotely help you
help your daughter or someone else you know.

I wish you luck.

Regards,
Larissa


--- In glimmercoloredfilterglasses@yahoogroups.com, mastiff_mum
<no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> Hi.
> After ongoing problems at school for 3 years where my daughter has
> been called lazy manipulative, attention seeking (yet with no
> behaviour problems) we had her optician test for Irlens which came
> back positve. However, it wasnt the official Irlen centre testing,
> so I guess what i need to know is do we now need to have the
testing
> done again at the Irlen Centre, (we are in the UK) or is the
> unofficial optician test good enough? Im looking for UK based
> support too. Its hard to grasp as obviously she doesnt look as
> though she has any problems, and we cant see what she sees.
> I just feel so confused about it all and would like info on what
the
> school should be doing to help, which the optician hasn't provided.
>
> should the school fund the official tests or is that down to us as
> her parents?
> does she now need to be placed on the SEN register as I woas told
by
> a relative who is a teacher?
>
> ANy advice would be greatly appreciated.
> Thankyou
>