Recognizing there is a problem is the first step. Finding a professional who can accurately diagnose the symptoms and problem is the next and can often become a myriad of steps in a long process of education, disappointment, frustration and if you are lucky to find the right pieces to the puzzle, successful remediation. I have often wondered why my Irlen Syndrome clients, often adults who have suffered with visual stress, distortions, limitations, frustrations and sometimes physical pain, could not get help sooner as children. Often the issues emerge and a child begins the process of maturation and emerging literacy: smart but feeling dumb, slow learner, hard to focus, behavioral outbursts, sensory overload, emotional instability, reading and math problems, handwriting slow and illegible, working too hard to get the skills others get much easier, working too hard for the A or B grade, or just not getting results and is being labeled lazy, resistant, and possibly even mentally or psychologically challenged. Tutor to tutor, doctor to doctor, assessments, testing, interventions: some work but some do not. $$$$ spent and minimal or no results. Time spent trying to figure it out. At risk for special education. An IEP or 504 plan which only puts bandages on the unknown problem. Eventually that child becomes a teenager and then an adults and they either compensate and override the issue and mange to succeed or they may end their education and life in limitation, drugs, dropping out of school or worse , criminal behavior and prison. They may fill the unemployment lines, mental hospitals thinking they are crazy and that supported by those around them who cannot explain bizarre behaviors, visual distortions, motor coordination problems, language problems and learning challenges. The list goes on and the tragedy is that Irlen Testing by a trained professional (any school or HR setting can have their own trained Irlen Screener on staff who can screen for scotopic sensitivity syndrome, or Irlen Syndrome, and provide resources, technologies and environmental modifications that can immediately improve symptoms and performance. What to know what some of those accommodations (that often cost nothing) are? Well keep reading and exploring this blog for future posts and explore this website for the many resources you can obtain for free. If you are as intrigued as I was, you can attend our 3 hour introductory seminar online or at our offices in Pikesville, MD or Reston, VA, sponsor a training at your location, and attend our 15 hour Irlen Screener Certification Training (must have a Bachelors Degree or higher to attend). …….
