Vision Therapy vs. Irlen

[MicheleB]

How is the Irlen www.irlen.com approach different than VT? Or isn't it? I've read about them both and it seems Irlen is more colored-glasses approach while VT is more learning how to work the eyes together, etc, through different exercises.

[Laurie4b]

You essentially have the differences down. Irlen is not vision therapy. It uses either colored lenses or colored transparent overlays to get to a level of contrast that helps some people. (My sister, for instance, had always found that the words "moved" when she was reading--until she tried reading a magazine at the beach with sunglasses.) I think "do it yourself" Irlen is a viable thing: just go to the local office supply store and buy some different colored transparencies and see if they help.

Vision therapy is much more complex. The child is tested on various types of eye movement: whether the eyes team together, track, converge, fixate, etc, etc. The child is also tested on visual perceptual skills and visual motor skills. Treatment consists of various eye exercises plus many of the types of activities that occupational therapists do.

[siloam]

You essentially have the differences down. Irlen is not vision therapy. It uses either colored lenses or colored transparent overlays to get to a level of contrast that helps some people. (My sister, for instance, had always found that the words "moved" when she was reading--until she tried reading a magazine at the beach with sunglasses.) I think "do it yourself" Irlen is a viable thing: just go to the local office supply store and buy some different colored transparencies and see if they help.

Vision therapy is much more complex. The child is tested on various types of eye movement: whether the eyes team together, track, converge, fixate, etc, etc. The child is also tested on visual perceptual skills and visual motor skills. Treatment consists of various eye exercises plus many of the types of activities that occupational therapists do.

As someone who has gone through Irlen I don't think you can just figure this out on your own. There are too many variables. As it turns out I needed two colors, which one was first and which was second was important and it was essential that I use the non-glare side. Most colored transparencies only come with a glossy finish, that I have seen, so that method wouldn't have solved my problems at all. Glare makes all my problems worse.

Interestingly enough he could tell me my ancestry by what colors I needed, because generally the issues are genetic therefor certain colors tend to be used for certain groups of people. But I could not afford to go beyond the overlay stage, and had mild enough issues to get by.

Anyway, the theory behind Irlen is that the eyes are seeing some colors faster and some colors slower, which distorts how you see everything. The filters are supposed to help you see all the colors at the same speed.

It seems to me that if you can permanently fix any issues that I would go that way first. VT seems to fix things while Irlen puts a colored band-aid on it. :D That is an uneducated opinion, though I do love my filters.

Heather

[MicheleB]

Thanks for that info and perspective, Heather. It was very helpful!

[mmclassics]

Our family are Irlen people too. We have friends who have had varying degrees of success and failure with the vision therapy. Some people have insurance that covers it, but we don't. My son had developed such a sensitivity to fluorescent lights that he quickly developed migraines whenever he was under those lights. He also couldn't read music at all. The irlen filters (glasses) immediately removed his headaches when all the rest of the medical community (allergies, MRI, GI, pediatrician, pediatric ophthamologist etc.) could not help.

Even if VT could eventually have helped, we couldn't have survived the delay. We had to ration his lighting and reading exposure during concert season just in order to keep his pain level down before he received his glasses. The day they came in, life went back to a pain free normal. (Another immediate thrill - ds reduced the Saxon daily worksheets from 30-90 minutes of frustration - to 5-10 minutes of peace!!! My son has problems with too many straight lines if he doesn't wear them his glasses.) By the way, sunlight is no problem, just the fluorescent lighting, although it is always easier for him to read with his colored lenses - no prescription - just colors.

I almost wonder if they might help each other in the long run, but have never heard of a practioner that was open to both. The proper Irlen overlays can bring immediate relief, where VT might be longer term, but longer for the delay. I have a feeling that the success of each method varies greatly with the individual needs of the child, as well as the skills of the VT trainer.

[siloam]

I would also add that I did VT with one dd and saw only minimal improvement. After the hyper focus on reading was over she went back to only reading comics. She still isn't her sister who will read a regular chapter book in an afternoon.

That said I do know people who have been helped by VT. They usually had drastic and obvious issues. My dd when evaluated was pretty good, but has a few things they thought they could improve.

I have tried my color filters (I never got glasses, just the overlays) with my dd with no positive impact, she really needs her own evaluation through as her colors might be different. Her processing issues might also not be visually based, which would render the filters useless.

Heather

[Dobela]

Another difference is that VT is assessed by a trained optometrist. Irlen is not. In fact, the Iren Institute has just opened the training up to optometrists for the first time ever this summer. Our optometrist is on the list for training but admittance is slow.

Which one you child will respond to depends on your child. Vision therapy has been a blessing for my son who has severe tracking issues and convergence issues. We have an excellent therapist that takes her job very seriously so that makes a huge difference I believe. We have also looked at Irlen but so far that doesn't seem to be what he needs. Fortunately for us our insurance has covered vision therapy, but the difference in his vision in even a short time was so dramatic that I would have gladly found a night job to pay for the therapy if it didn't.

[sbgrace]

Which one you child will respond to depends on your child. Vision therapy has been a blessing for my son who has severe tracking issues and convergence issues. We have an excellent therapist that takes her job very seriously so that makes a huge difference I believe. We have also looked at Irlen but so far that doesn't seem to be what he needs. Fortunately for us our insurance has covered vision therapy, but the difference in his vision in even a short time was so dramatic that I would have gladly found a night job to pay for the therapy if it didn't.
This was our VT experience too. My son clearly needed it and he made drastic and quick progress. I was very committed to doing the prescribed home therapy with him. We also did light therapy/phototherapy. It might have made the VT part faster in terms of progression for us. I'm not sure. But our VT clearly made a huge difference. He did get prism lenses too and they also had an immediate effect for him.

[Dobela]

This was our VT experience too. My son clearly needed it and he made drastic and quick progress. I was very committed to doing the prescribed home therapy with him. We also did light therapy/phototherapy. It might have made the VT part faster in terms of progression for us. I'm not sure. But our VT clearly made a huge difference. He did get prism lenses too and they also had an immediate effect for him.
We noticed dramatic improvement right away as well. In 8 weeks he completed a semester of math - when it had taken 1.5 yrs to complete the other semester. Once he could track and see accurately we were able to complete more faster and more correctly than ever before. His VT does send homeswork home and we have about 15-30 minutes a day of fun exercises to do. It has been so very worth it for us.