Rating: 
Summary: Great resource
Review: As a special education teacher I have worked with hundreds of students with reading and learning disabilities. Many of my students have been helped with the colored overlays and gone on to have their lenses tinted. This book outlines a treatable visual perceptual disorder which is so often overlooked. It may not be the only reason a student has reading difficulties, but for many students using the overlays can have a significant improvement on their reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great resource
Review: As a special education teacher I have worked with hundreds of students with reading and learning disabilities. Many of my students have been helped with the colored overlays and gone on to have their lenses tinted. This book outlines a treatable visual perceptual disorder which is so often overlooked. It may not be the only reason a student has reading difficulties, but for many students using the overlays can have a significant improvement on their reading.
Rating:
Summary: What every teacher/parent should know about reading problems
Review: As an elementary school teacher and certified Irlen screener I have screened dozens of students. Over 95% of those experiencing reading problems were helped using the Irlen method. When "the words don't wiggle anymore", "my eyes don't get watery", "she now reads so fluently", "he stopped fidgeting", "the blurriness went away", and "the lines don't wave anymore" are some of the responses from/about my clients, who are others to say that the method doesn't work? An individual's perception is his alone and can't be measured, qualified, and sometimes expressed, until the right questions are asked. Mrs. Irlen has truly made a difference.
Rating: 
Summary: Outdated
Review: For 22 years I taught special education and told parents I had no answers to their child's learning difficulties. Then I discovered the methods outlined in Reading By the Colors. The method worked for me and some of the 500 people I have screened. There is always hope.
Rating:
Summary: A Piece of the Learning Puzzle for You or Your Child?
Review: Has this book rasied controversy? Yes. Does the Irlen Method help everyone with reading/writing/learning problems? No. Should you explore this as a piece of the puzzle for you or your child? Yes.Louis Pasture created controversy when he accused unwashed physicians of spreading disease among their patients. Irlen states there is a percentage of individuals who cannot be helped by her method and they can be identified. This book details the experiences of psychologist Helen Irlen as she worked with learners who, although intelligent and motivated, were experiencing reading/learning difficulties which lead to academic underachievement or failure. By listening to her students, (sometimes difficult for those of us working as a helping professional), express their difficulties with reading and writing based activities, Irlen realized that their difficulties did not fall into traditional diagnostic-therapeutic paradigms. This was a new set of conditions calling for new methods. She called the condition Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrorme. It is now called Irlen Syndrome/Scotopic Sensitivity.
Through a "happy accident," Irlen and her students discovered that colored plastic overlays reduced or eliminated the discomfort and distortions the students experienced in reading and writing based activities. This was the beginning of The Irlen Method: the use of color in the form of Irlen Overlays or Irlen Filters worn as tinted glasses or contact lenses. Today there are over 100,000 Irlen Filter wearers world-wide. Many times more use the Irlen Overlays. World-wide medical, educational, and neurological research continues to demonstrate the presence of Irlen Syndrome/Scotopic Sensitivity and the efficacy of the Irlen Method. If you or your child experience learning or work difficulties, exploring the Irlen Method could be of benefit.
Rating:
Summary: A Piece of the Learning Puzzle for You or Your Child?
Review: Has this book rasied controversy? Yes. Does the Irlen Method help everyone with reading/writing/learning problems? No. Should you explore this as a piece of the puzzle for you or your child? Yes. Louis Pasture created controversy when he accused unwashed physicians of spreading disease among their patients. Irlen states there is a percentage of individuals who cannot be helped by her method and they can be identified. This book details the experiences of psychologist Helen Irlen as she worked with learners who, although intelligent and motivated, were experiencing reading/learning difficulties which lead to academic underachievement or failure. By listening to her students, (sometimes difficult for those of us working as a helping professional), express their difficulties with reading and writing based activities, Irlen realized that their difficulties did not fall into traditional diagnostic-therapeutic paradigms. This was a new set of conditions calling for new methods. She called the condition Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrorme. It is now called Irlen Syndrome/Scotopic Sensitivity.
Through a "happy accident," Irlen and her students discovered that colored plastic overlays reduced or eliminated the discomfort and distortions the students experienced in reading and writing based activities. This was the beginning of The Irlen Method: the use of color in the form of Irlen Overlays or Irlen Filters worn as tinted glasses or contact lenses. Today there are over 100,000 Irlen Filter wearers world-wide. Many times more use the Irlen Overlays. World-wide medical, educational, and neurological research continues to demonstrate the presence of Irlen Syndrome/Scotopic Sensitivity and the efficacy of the Irlen Method. If you or your child experience learning or work difficulties, exploring the Irlen Method could be of benefit.
Rating:
Summary: Outdated
Review: Irlen's original hypothesis was interesting. It has been proven to be outdated, and this book (and the whole Irlen approach) ought to disappear from the helping-the-dyslexic shelf. Dyslexia is not a visual problem, it is a neurological processing problem. Glasses or colored overlays won't raise a kid's reading level--getting the brain to recognize sounds and the relation to symbols is the answer. The International Dyslexia Association has reliable information. I am sure there are people who are bothered by lights and so on who feel better when they wear dark glasses or whatever. It is just not a cure for specific language disabilities. I see the Irlen Screeners as desperately needing more "sufferers" to justify the cost of their training. "But it worked for MEEee!" is not an acceptable answer to "where is the research?"
Rating:
Summary: Irlen Lenses Helped Our Family
Review: Reading By the Colors and the Irlen Method of using colored lenses to help visual distortions has changed our lives. After visiting a pediatrition, allergy specialist, optometrist,opthomologist, and getting a CAT scan, my niece finally received the Irlen lenses and can now see without having words slide off the page. She also can concentrate on her reading and was able to discontinue her Ritalin for a supposed condition of ADD. Also, I received the Irlen lenses and can now see the words on the page that previously were overtaken by the white background. I can also now see depth perception in scenery and can enjoy the colors of flowers, trees, and clouds...I can really see the silver linings! Night driving is also much easier! This book really helped me understand why I sometimes would see things differently, or why I would not read as fluently as I would like to. It helped me understand why I had to study so much longer than others. Even though I have two college degrees, it was a struggle! This book is a must for teachers! I am an elementary teacher and plan to tell everyone about it!
Rating:
Summary: Irlen Lenses Helped Our Family
Review: Reading By the Colors and the Irlen Method of using colored lenses to help visual distortions has changed our lives. After visiting a pediatrition, allergy specialist, optometrist,opthomologist, and getting a CAT scan, my niece finally received the Irlen lenses and can now see without having words slide off the page. She also can concentrate on her reading and was able to discontinue her Ritalin for a supposed condition of ADD. Also, I received the Irlen lenses and can now see the words on the page that previously were overtaken by the white background. I can also now see depth perception in scenery and can enjoy the colors of flowers, trees, and clouds...I can really see the silver linings! Night driving is also much easier! This book really helped me understand why I sometimes would see things differently, or why I would not read as fluently as I would like to. It helped me understand why I had to study so much longer than others. Even though I have two college degrees, it was a struggle! This book is a must for teachers! I am an elementary teacher and plan to tell everyone about it!
Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone who experiences reading problems
Review: Reading by the colors is a must read for every parent or grandparent of a child who has a reading problem. As a neuropsychologist who works with children with reading problems I have found many children have found help through this book. There is an easy self test to explore whether the child might be experiencing some of the symptoms and simple remedies are offered. Many teachers I work with have also found this book offers valuable insight into the reading problems of some of their students.
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