Brought Stacey to see a pediatric optometrist because despite having generally very good eyesight, she would consistently complain that her eyes hurt after reading for a short while - usually around 10 minutes, and never longer than 15mins at a stretch.
I had read about how some eye problems can translate into a child being diagnosed as dyslexic and heard also from the Educational Psychologist that there was an optometrist here who could look into such things, and so, after hearing her complain again, for the umpteenth time, I decided to sign her up for a full eye examination.
Since the time she was little and was starting to read a little after starting OG lessons, she would complain of being tired after reading or doing work. So this has been a consistent complain for the last 4 years or so. One day, her cousins and my kids were having a read-a-thon, and they were competing to see who could stay reading the longest... and oddly enough, after reading for about 10 mins or so, she stopped, saying that her eyes were too tired to go on. She was also reading one of her favourite books - from the Magic Puppy series, so I knew that it was not the book or the story that was boring and causing her to stop. Her competitive spirit would also usually push her to go on no matter what, so for her to have stopped was a big deal. This was when I knew that the discomfort was real and not just an excuse.
At the optometrist's, she went through a whole battery of tests and was given a completely clean bill of health as far as her eyesight and condition of her eyes were concerned. However, the optometrist was concerned that she was complaining of discomfort after only such a short period of reading... so he decided to try out another test. This one involved the use of coloured overlays on a page - designed to ease the strain of reading. The explanation is a rather technical one, but I immediately knew what he was talking about because I find certain colours more soothing compared to the glaring white of a page on a book. This is especially so when the fonts are messy and complex. I don't like reading off a computer because of the illuminated screen, which is why I prefer the Kindle to the ipad for reading and so on.
So it was no surprise when she readily responded to the overlays and when she finally settled on a colour that she preferred (that caused her eyes to be more comfortable) the optometrist conducted the test, but getting her to read a paragraph that was really a string of about 6-8 easy words that were put together (seemingly) randomly.
With the overlay, she read more quickly, more fluently and covered more words in a minute, compared to without the overlay (same words, different order, different card) where there was obvious hesitance and more faltering with the reading. She also covered fewer words in the one minute. I think she also made more mistakes. So it was quite obvious that the coloured overlay helps. This is called the Meares-Irlen syndrome.
While this syndrome is not widely recognised as yet, more and more research and studies have shown that children are helped by the use of overlays and coloured tinted lenses during reading and work and so on... and it was obvious in the simple test conducted that day.
So we go back again for yet another test - this time to use a machine that will help pinpoint the exact shade that works for her... and we will be making her a pair of glasses that are tinted to help with her reading and work.
She's excited about the prospect of getting glasses, but also somewhat worried because she knows that she will look different from others and that her glasses will be different from that of all the other bespectacled children in her school. I pray that she will have supportive and understanding teachers who will help her cope with this change when she begins school next year. Since we will only be testing on Tuesday the 28th, I am not sure we will get the glasses in time for school when it reopens exactly one week later, especially over the New Year holiday... but we'll see.
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