Dyslexia and Visual Stress

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which primarily affects reading and writing skills. Visual stress is NOT Dyslexia but it can be particularly prevalent in Dyslexic individuals and can add to their discomfort.

Visual stress, also known as Meares-Irlen Syndrome, is a condition that causes visual discomfort when reading or looking at printed materials. Symptoms include:

🔷 distortions of text e.g. movement, blurring, letters changing size of shape, changing colour etc.

🔷 patterns appearing, sometimes describes as “worms” or “rivers” running through print

🔷 illusions of colour – blobs of colour on the page or colours surrounding letters or words

🔷 rapid tiring

🔷 blurred vision

🔷 headache or eyestrain

Remember, symptoms of visual stress are not always immediately obvious. Many assume the discomfort they feel when reading, or the distortions they experience on the page, are “normal”.

Signs to look for:

🟩 becoming restless

🟩 using a finger as a marker

🟩 skipping words and lines

🟩 rubbing eyes and blinking excessively

🟩 low self esteem

Colour has been found to be highly beneficial in alleviating the symptoms caused by Visual Stress. This can be in the form of coloured overlays (thin sheets of coloured plastic that can be placed over text) or precision tinted lenses.

At Blink we can test for Visual Stress and if we establish that you are suffering from it, we can do an overlay assessment to determine the particular coloured overlay that will improve your visual symptoms and reading comfort. You can also consider colorimetry for precision tinted lenses in your glasses.

If you or your child have Dyslexia and have any of the symptoms of visual stress then please make an appointment - let’s see if we can help relieve your discomfort!