Irlen filters

Irlen syndrome (or scotopic sensitivity syndrome) is a purported medical condition of disordered visual processing, which, it is proposed, can be treated by wearing colored lenses. The ideas of Irlen syndrome are pseudoscientific and not supported by scientific evidence, and its treatment has been described as a health fraud that takes advantage of vulnerable people.

The condition was proposed in the 1980s.

Irlen method

The Irlen method uses colored overlays and tinted lenses in the form of glasses or contact lenses. The method is intended to correct visual processing problems; it is claimed the resultant retiming of visual signals in the brain improves symptoms associated with Irlen syndrome.

History

In 1980, New Zealand teacher Olive Meares described the visual distortions some individuals reported when reading from white paper. In 1983, while working under a federal research grant at the California State University of Long Beach, American psychologist Helen Irlen thought that through the use of either colored overlays or spectral filters (worn as glasses) that would filter the visual information before it reaches the brain could enable the brain to correctly process the visual information it received. Irlen thought that in doing so, the colored overlays and spectral filters could eliminate symptoms associated with Irlen syndrome. Similar symptoms were described separately by Meares and Irlen, each unaware of the other's work. Irlen, who was first to systematically define the condition, named the condition " scotopic sensitivity syndrome," although in years afterward, some referred to it as Meares-Irlen syndrome, Irlen syndrome, and visual stress.

Early studies investigating Irlen syndrome as a treatable condition have been criticized for taking a biased and subjective approach to the research.

See also

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References

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Vision
Dyslexia
Syndromes
Alternative diagnoses
Alternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilities
Health fraud
Pseudoscience