Image635425763666531309nzherald010814Lucy’s August 2014 monthly column is devoted to children, such as her son and daughter, who have Irlen Syndrome. Lucy’s articles are archived in the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Columnist subsite which has a collection of articles / news & video of Lucy as a journalist / interviewer.

Please note: the photo used this article is not Lucy’s son but a generic Getty Image used by NZ Herald for the purpose of this article

Tinted glasses may help a young child with Irlen Syndrome be able to read letters which otherwise blur, spin or change colour.
Photo / Getty Images

You can click on the images for the larger scans or you can read it online

 

Lucy Lawless: Seeing the world differently

New Zealand Herald
01 August 2014

I have children with Irlen Syndrome and know their special talents but fear for those who are never diagnosed

I once read a news article where a young boy was beaten by his harried mother for lying when he claimed, "Grandma scares me when her eyes slide off her face". Turns out, the kid was not lying. This is one of the more alarming aspects of Irlen Syndrome, also known as Meares-Irlen or Scotopic Light Sensitivity Syndrome.

Somehow the information network in the boy's brain did not form typically in vitro. Then the nerve centre's incredible powers of inference will interpret the incoming data in novel ways, resulting in psychedelic visual distortions.

Such was the case with my own offspring. Until my son's diagnosis at the Irlen Diagnostic Clinic in Pakuranga, he had never seen tiles that were not creeping across a roof and dripping off the edges. My daughter, less severely affected, had never been able to stomach the lurid signage in shopping malls.

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