Published on 12, July, 2020
I use a coloured film overlay when I read books, and I have my kindle set up in blue shade mode with a colour tint. This helps hugely with my dyslexia. Husband was looking for a new overlay for me and found some stuff on Irlen syndrome so I wondered if any of you knew anything about it? Positive or negative.
I'm a big proponent of critical thinking so would suggest you take a look at this link:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/irlen-syndrome/
I have severe visual issues which make text and anything with high contrast, or close parallel lines "jazz" in front of me. There is no doubt that tinted glasses or using coloured backgrounds on my device reader help enormously but my conclusion is that they do so by reducing contrast. The choice of colour I feel is more aesthetic than anything else.
I also would suggest having a look at this story which refers to a local optician who was struck off over this:
http://www.largsandmillportnews.com/news/16083145.Ayr_optician_is_struck_off_over____experimental____autism_work/
Again, please don't think I am saying that coloured overlays or lenses don't help. They do. It's just that there is no science behind expensive prescriptions of particular colours.
Those are from pretty old sources.
There has been a lot more research done than the 5 studies cited.
Here's a more in depth article from the British Medical Journal. It is by a representative from the Irlen organisation but there are a lot more sources cited, some more recent.
https://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4872/rr/761729
I'm not understanding what you are saying though. Coloured overlays work but they are placebos or that your experience with them will be the same as everyone else's. My experience was that the specific colour was the cause of the contrast problems and additional problems.
There are charlatans out there like the optician in Ayr. I'd say to go to a proper center to anyone. I'm not knocking your scepticism, it is healthy to be critical. I hate spending money. I did ask around extensively and read up on it before I made a decision. Some people can find their own way around it though, such as yourself. I wish I had myself!