Learning Difficulties Newcastle

A little girl came to see me last week, along with her brother, Mother and Father. Dad has just found out that he has Irlen Syndrome (while his daughter was being assessed) and both children have it as well. The little girl sees words floating, lines look crooked and she sees sparkling when she looks at the page, and sometimes she sees coloured dots when she wakes up in the morning. She said that it takes a while before the dots disappear. Dad also said that he experiences sparkling in his vision, but he just accepted that as normal for him. The boy gets headaches and gets very sore and tired eyes after reading for a short time. He is really light sensitive, even more than his sister. A common observation of children who are light sensitive is the dark rings under the eyes. There are probably other reasons for them, but I believe that it is a certain “give-away” that they are light sensitive, and as a result, usually have Irlen Syndrome. So, if you know of someone who is light sensitive (blinks a lot in the light, can’t keep their eyes open for too long when looking towards a light source, prefers to sit in a darker part of the room, shades their eyes with their hands when looking at a page in a bright room or gets headaches each school day, but not necessarily on the weekends) then you should consider that they may have Irlen Syndrome and have them assessed. We have clinics in Coffs Harbour and Taree, and I go to Singleton once a month, and our main clinic is in Wallsend.