Sunday, March 4, 2012

Dyslexia and Irlen Syndrome: What age can you screen for Irlen Syndrome?

Dyslexia and Irlen Syndrome: What age can you screen for Irlen Syndrome?: Dyslexia and Irlen Syndrome I am currently working with a student who is 6 years + 5 months. Last year, (he would have been 6 years old th...

What age can you screen for Irlen Syndrome?

Dyslexia and Irlen Syndrome

I am currently working with a student who is 6 years + 5 months. Last year, (he would have been 6 years old then), he came to the 'reading lesson' and when he went to get his book out of his pencil case (that's what we use to take the books home), a pair of toy cardboard glasses with blue cellophane fell out. How interesting I thought. When I asked him why he was using those glasses, he replied because it "stops the words moving around on the page". Well, immediately I was on alert. When I was training to be an Irlen Screener, it was recommended to wait until children were around 8 years old. I'm not so sure about this now. I think it probably depends on each individual student. This particular student, was able to articulate quite clearly the difficulties he was having.

This year,  I have had to turn the lights off because the glare is too much for him. He is constantly rubbing his eyes whilst reading and it looks so uncomfortable for him. He is not reading with fluency and he is having difficulty concentrating. He says that the words "look diagonal". When I asked him to write down what the words looked like, they were not written in a straight line. I took a photo, and this is what he wrote.

So, with Mums' permission, we are going to screen him for Irlen.
Stay posted for updates.
Cheers
Christine