A new pair of glasses is all it takes to cure Mearles-Irlen Syndrome

Published on Monday 17 September 2007 01:11

THOUSANDS of children across Scotland struggling to read may have been wrongly diagnosed as having dyslexia when they may be suffering from a condition which can be corrected simply by wearing special glasses.

One orthoptics expert says as many as 15 per cent of the population may be suffering from Mearles-Irlen Syndrome, which makes it difficult to read black text on white paper. This could mean more than 100,000 Scottish children are affected.

Sufferers can experience blurring of letters, words "dancing" on the page, and headaches and nausea when reading.

At a conference on the condition at Glasgow Caledonian University today, Dr Nadia Northway, an expert in the field, is expected to lament the "postcode lottery" Scots experience in getting a diagnosis.

Dr Northway said: "Some children are being incorrectly diagnosed with dyslexia when all they need is a special pair of glasses.

"In Ayrshire and Arran, if teachers see a child struggling to read, they will automatically send them for assessment at the hospital. Parents in Ayrshire can have everything done on the NHS, while in Glasgow they have to pay for their glasses. We have a postcode lottery.

"However, in Scotland we have a very strong history of having treated this condition. We are probably ten years ahead of England."

Orthoptists routinely screen for the condition but there are only 96 such specialists across the whole of Scotland. Treatment is with the use of glasses with coloured lenses. If the syndrome is caught early enough, these can cure the problem.

Dr Northway believes that if the condition is spotted early enough, children can throw away their glasses after just two years. But without the correct diagnosis many sufferers struggle for years.

About 70 per cent of migraine sufferers, and 50 per cent of people with dyslexia have a form of Meares-Irlen, and Dr Northway believes as many as 15 per cent of the general public could be suffering in silence.

According to Scottish Government figures, there are around 702,000 children at school in Scotland, meaning according to Dr Northway's calculations more than 100,000 children could be affected.

At the very minimum, she believes five per cent of the country has the syndrome - affecting around 35,100 children aged between five and 18.

She said: "Conservatively we are looking at 10 to 15 per cent of the population who probably experience this but may not be aware what they are experiencing is abnormal."

David Eaglesham, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, supported national screening for the syndrome. He said: "If it can be shown this is something demonstrably affecting large numbers then I see no reason why some system of national testing could not be set up.

"There are so few conditions like this where the solution seems to be so straightforward."

HOW TO SPOT THE PROBLEM

THERE is a 70 per cent chance that if your child gets migraines, then they will also have Mearles-Irlen Syndrome.

If your child complains of headaches or feeling sick and can read only in short bursts, it would be worth having a test.

Symptoms include blurring of text, letters and words "swimming" or "dancing" across the page. They may struggle to read along a sentence as their eyes will leap from line to line.

If your child is dyslexic, he or she is more likely to also suffer the syndrome.

GREEN LIGHT TO READ

FIONA Shipsey from Glasgow was 22 when she was diagnosed with Mearles-Irlen Syndrome.

"I was always in the top reading group in primary school - I could read in short spurts - but when I was a teenager, I joined a book club and found I couldn't cope with reading a book every week," she said. "The words would swim about the page, I would feel really queasy and I would just put the book down."

At art school, a lecturer suggested that she might be dyslexic. "When I was being diagnosed, I asked if feeling nauseous all the time when reading was part of dyslexia and they said it sounded like a syndrome."

Testing revealed green was the best colour for her and, until her glasses were made, she read everything through a sheet of green acetate.

Now 30, she has changed career and works in finance: "I never thought I'd be able to work with figures and I can finally enjoy reading books."