Irlen Syndrome & EEGDr. Doris Ang

Psychologist / DiagnosticianIrlen Dyslexia Clinic

Pediatric RehabilitationMedicine @ Children’s Hospital of Pittsburg

• Prevalence of childhood disability is increasing

• Disability related to physical health condition havedecreased

• Disability due to neuro-developmental & mental healthincreased greatly

• 6 millions kids with LD in 2009-2010, 1 million more thanin 2001-2002.

Learning Disability

• People with LD are of average or above-average intelligencebut still struggle to acquire skills that impact theirperformance in school, at home, in the community and in theworkplace

• Learning disabilities are lifelong, and the sooner they arerecognized and identified, the sooner steps can be taken tocircumvent or overcome the challenges they present.

Different Types of Learning DisabilitiesDyslexia

ADD/ADHD

Autism/Asperger’sSyndrome/PDD

Down SyndromeAuditory Processing

Disorder

Visual Processing Disorder

Sensory Integration Disorder

Dyslexia – functional difference

• Dyslexia is a different learning ability rather thana disability (brain process information differentlyfrom a non - dyslexic)

• It is a puzzling mix of distinctive strength oftalents as well as clusters of difficulties.

• Dyslexics are no less intelligent than others.

Interesting Facts

Film Producer Walter( Walt Disney)

Founder of Apple ComputerSteve Jobs

Physicist & Philosopher of ScienceAlbert Einstein

Chairman of London-Based Virgin Group Richard Branson

Hollywood ActorTom Cruise

Prime Minister of United KingdomWinston Churchill

Irlen Syndrome

Irlen Syndrome is a

• Distinct type of perceptual dyslexia

• Neurological disorder – eye look, brain see

• Brain inability to encode and decode visual information

Case Study I Razeena

• Dyslexic

• Never pass her exams sincePrimary 1

• Headache (Panadol)

• Severe light sensitivity

• Unable to see well even withprescribed lenses

What Happens When You Have IrlenSyndrome?

• Information is transmitted from the eyes to the brain by 2 pathways- magnocell & parvocell

• Research indicates that a deficit in magno cells which results in problem accomodating specific wavelight of light

• A particular frequency of light when enter the retina, will trigger the stressor in the neural pathway resulting in sensory overload

Deficit in Magno Cells

Visual Pathway

Irlen Distortion

Case Study IIEthan

• ASD, High EQ

• Light Sensitivity

• Headache

• Uneven handwriting

• Rub eyes frequently

• Not socializing well in school, grades affected

Dr. Daniel Amen’s Research

Using 3D Spect Scan, he found the activity to be more balanced or normalized while wearing Irlen filters.

Scotopic Sensitivity WithoutIrlen Lenses

Scotopic Sensitivity With IrlenLenses

SPECT Scans – Amen Clinic

Visual Processing Disorder

• Problem understanding what they see, recognising words,judging distance, escalators, hotel carpets, words may move,lines may flow into each other, spaces between words maymerge.

• Individuals find their vision compromised under bright light.

• Average to well above average intelligence, test well orally.

• Co-exist with ADD/ADHD, Autism

• Misdiagnosis

Irlen Syndrome• Genetic component: affecting males and females equally

• Condition is varied and intermittent

• Exists on a continuum from slight to severe

• Enhanced by environmental stressors: lighting; contrast, colors, patterns; amount of print on page; demands for continuous performance; demands for comprehension; print size, style and format

• Not identified by standardized tests

• Not a method of instruction

Symptpms• Skip words or lines, use finger as marker

• Loses place, misread words

• Poor comprehension (too much energy)

• Poor depth perception, poor motor co-ordination, poor ball skills, avoid PE

• Slow to copy, poor penmanship, uneven slope of letters, unequal spacing

• Headache/dizziness

• Difficulty reading music lines

A Six Year Follow-up Study

• Irlen Coloured Filters for Reading: A Six Year Follow-up by Whiting, Robinson, and Parrott in AustralianJournal of Remedial Education, 1994.

– 94% of 267 subjects reported continued improvement

– 58% reported large improvements in at least 3 areas

Colorado Inmates & Irlen SyndromeJournal of Correctional Education, September 2000 by Whichard, J.A., Feller, & Kastner.

Improvement with Colored Overlays (N=72)

Degree Of Improvement

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

none slight moderate considerable

Degree of Improvement

Of 155 randomly selected subjects, 88.9% were moderately or highly Scotopic and reported moderate to considerable improvement with an Irlen colored overlay.

Physical Symptoms(Average Rating 0-5)

“0” means “No Problem “5” means “Considerable Problem”

Symptoms Pre Post

Light Sensitivity

Migraines

Headaches

Concentration

Tired/Fatigued/Drained

Short Term Memory Loss

Behavior Control/Anger

Easily Agitated or Irritable

Eye Strain/Pain

Slowed Thinking

Feeling Anxious

Fidgety

Dizziness

Feeling Depressed

Nausea

Stomachaches

No Problem

ConsiderableProblem

No Problem

ConsiderableProblem

4.914.884.86

4.434.414.384.334.25

4.134.043.99

3.523.29

3.172.41

1.61

0.130.49

0.411.32

1.612.57

1.571.270.19

1.461.31

1.030.361.340.220.14

Average Number of Migraines Per Month

Pre Post

24 1

Case Study IIISky

Case Study III

• Stressful to read

• Eyes discomfort – watery, painful

• Headache

• Skip words and lines a lot

• Rub eyes frequently

• Grades affected

Irlen Syndrome

• It affects 12 – 14% of population

• Almost 50% of autistic population

• 33% of ADD/ADHD population

• 46% of people with specific learning disabilities and reading problems.

• 70% of Dyslexia population

Causes & Conditions

• Pregnancy, delivery

• Environmental

• Developmental – crawling, balancing

• Genetic

Irlen Treatment

• Permanent – treatable

• Spectrally modified color filters can correct the timing imbalance and normalize the brain pattern

• Sunglasses – color saturation is important – visual system may be adverse to certain saturation

• The correct color is vital; the wrong color can increase the blood flow to the posterior arteries of the brain and cause headaches and misprocessed information (Prof. Bardolini, Modena University, Italy).

Irlen Treatment

• Early identification, early intervention

• Irlen Spectral Filters removes out all wavelength of light that cause visual problem.

• Visual barriers to learning has to be removed for all remedial teachings to be effective.

• Reading, learning & attention problems do not have to limit a child's POTENTIAL.

PowerPoint Presentation ExcerptsPrepared by Georgianna Saba, July 2006 (Update 2012)

IRLEN SYNDROME

BRAIN SCANS (4 types)

MAGNETIC RESONANCE

QEEG Quantitative Electroencephalography

SPECT Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography

EEG EVOKE POTENTIAL

Genevieve’s EEG

• Her brain generally under-aroused with weak Alphas. When on tasks, herTheta increase significantly at all sites (subtype of ADHD)

• High Theta of 7.08Hz (4-7Hz), can slow down cognitive processing whichlead to symptoms of ADD.

• With Irlen lens, interesting to see no increase in Theta at occipital sitewhen on tasks.