Helen Irlen discovered this syndrome while working as a coordinator in researching reading disorders in US. Visual perceptual field divides perceptual stimuli into millions of pieces, processes all the information, and puts the pieces back together to form an image.

Magno cells detect spatial positioning of a moving object, and Parvo cells detect color and stationary objects. People with Irlen syndrome have unstable mango cells, according to professor Livingston. Deficiency causes slow processing of images, which in turn makes the images overlap.

Most people experience problems with wavelengths between 400 and 600 nanometers, extended exposure to which leads to information overload and, consequently, distortion of visual input. This then causes headaches, which makes reading even more difficult. Most incoming patients who have no physiological causes for the symptoms have Irlen’s syndrome.

Small writings, excessive visual perceptual tasks, especially computers. The bible is an example of small writings. Stressed visual perceptual system leads to distorted visual stimuli, and persistence of such condition causes expression of physiological and behavioral symptoms, like headaches, can’t speed read, read the same page over and over. All these cause learning disorder. 72% of male inmates in California’s jails have learning disorder. They form explosive personality because they get frustrated.
There are six aspects to Irlen’s syndrome. First is hypersensitivity to light. Next, problem of letter and background; black letters on white background is too strong a stimulus. Some people because nauseated when they are asked look at this page. People with Irlen’s syndrome strain to read, which stresses the ocular muscles and make the eyes shake.

When reading, the left brain reads each individual letter, while the right brain looks at the whole page. Speed reading requires awareness of the overview of a page, but people with Irlen syndrome can’t do this because of insufficient number of mango cells. They lose track while moving between lines, they have to fix their heads and move only their eyes in order to read well. Widening a patient’s field of vision is important in improving speed reading and comprehension.

Visual perceptual distortion important factors to consider in detecting Irlen syndrome are hypersensitivity to light and visual perceptual distortion. Independent studies show that 25% of ADHD are easily distracted, which turns out to be because of Irlen syndrome because the narrow vision fatigues the eyes, which then forces the patient to move.

Another important factor is the reading problem. Poor tracking, skipping lines, or preferring to read in slightly dark places. But having these symptoms could just mean that the patient has learning disorder, we can’t conclusively diagnose Irlen syndrome with just these symptoms. Also, the patient avoids reading, and when he reads, he displays physical symptoms, such as fatigued or red eyes and nausea. All these symptoms are also closely related to the vestibular system.

Adults with this syndrome find it hard to drive and park cars. They don’t realize how close they are to the car in front. They also have difficulties copying things because of the inability to process spatial information.
Slow, poor comprehension, can’t read for long, eyes get tired, become nauseated, etc. Going to the optometrist first and ruling out ocular problems is important. From symptom evaluation surveys, 50% have Irlen syndrome, and there are other ways to screen. Autism actually is accompanied by lots of sensory problems, but they go unnoticed because the patients can’t express those problems. In such cases, indirect methods are used to screen for Irlen syndrome. In Korea, around 10% of the 4 to 5,000 that were tested came out negative for the syndrome.

Treating for the syndrome involves finding the right colored overlay for reading. Their eyes are more relaxed and reading speed improves just by covering the reading material with an overlay.
Identifying the causal color combination for Irlen syndrome with an Irlen test kit and then filtering it improves mango cell function and corrects the problem 90% of the time. For people who are really bad, you have to overlap 8 different colors in order to find the color frequency that’s right for them. It may look pitch black to us, but they find it comfortable. Subjective changes when using the Irlen filter are faster reading, greater perception of details, improved comprehension, and comfort while reading.

One of the cases that were shown in the video this morning has been my patient for 4 years; a 7th grader. He has ADHD and complains of being taken over by ghosts. He was unsuccessfully treated for other mental disorders at two different hospitals before coming to me, and he turned out to have Irlen syndrome. His headaches stopped when the syndrome subsided. Improvements tend to be dramatic.
The book Ricky Syndrome features a person who lived for 20 years with a diagnosis of split personality disorder, only to realize later that he actually had Irlen syndrome. A person with visual or auditory dysfunctions could easily be diagnosed as having split personality disorder, because visual perceptual distortion could be interpreted as hallucination.

In conclusion, people who seem to have normal intelligence but avoid reading or are hypersensitive to light should suspect Irlen syndrome. 90% of Irlen syndrome are corrected.
8,000 schools in the US routinely test for Irlen syndrome, and the US navy recently began screening new recruits.

[Copyright 1998-2006 by Perceptual Development Corp/Helen Irlen. All rights reserved.]