Dear confused Mum,

I'm pleased you've found a cause of difficulties your daughter seems to be
having. She's fortunate she has your support. I found out I had Irlens when
I was 25 whilst at university, after burning out. I'm glad I was tested
because it meant my difficulties were ones I could understand and make
better strategies for. My parents didn't push very early as they worried a
diagnosis would harm my self esteem. I wish they had though. If this is of
concern to you could tell her that niether Irlens or dyslexia affect
inteligence and that they tend to go hand in hand with imaginative thinking
which helps with understanding and developing new ideas.

I was first diagnosed with dyslexia at 17, then Irlens at 25. Both came
rather late but both diagnoseses gave me the power to get assistance. These
have been 25% extra time in school and university exams and a computer for
my work at university. There are programs to help picture thinkers plan
essays, and ones that will read out text on the screen. I also was able to
get a personal support tutor once a week to help me organise myself at
college and university.

To get all this I had to have a report detailing my learning disability
which was necesary for aquiring funding to get the support. It took my
family years to suss all this out, but my experience is that having a
report, or being registered with a school, or university as having special
needs gives you the authority to ask for things and to be listened to.

I've had coloured glasses made by 3 different methods. I'll summarise them
briefly. When I was looking for answers myself I trawled through so much
stuff on the internet:

1.) The first was at a local opticians. I tried about 50 different coloured
lenses against my eyes, tried reading, and the colour of the single lense
that helped most was then made in to a pair of glasses.

2.) The second was at another opticians using the "intuitive coloromiter"
This name makes it sound more complicated than it is. This is a box with
different coloured lights in. The optician changes the colour of the light
while the patient tries to read. The colour that is most helpfull is then
made in to glasses.

3.) The third was at an Irlens centre. I was presented with about 50 filters
which were more subtely tinted. I tried them all against my eyes and about 7
of them helped me to read. These 7 helpfull filters were put in to a single
pair of glasses.

Out of the 3 methods the ones made at the Irlens centre helped me most. They
gave me a report too which I've used when applying for support.

I have found wrap arounds more helpfull than flat lenses. Strip lights make
my symptoms much worse. Day light bulbs help me lots and are only slightly
more expensive than an ordinary light bulb.

REMEMBER: these are only my experiences of what has worked for me.



Best of luck,


love Tim




>From: mastiff_mum <no_reply@yahoogroups.com>
>Reply-To: glimmercoloredfilterglasses@yahoogroups.com
>To: glimmercoloredfilterglasses@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Glimmer 'Colored Filter Glasses'] Newly diagnosed
>daughter,confused mum!
>Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:22:27 -0000
>
>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
>

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