What if YOU saw swirling letters when you read ?

Penance in our family, for about five years, was reading with Anthony. "That's it", I'd snap. Then I'd speak the dreaded words, "You're reading with Anthony as your job tonight!" Reading with Anthony was sheeragony. He couldn't sit still, he'd lose his place, forget what he had read 30 seconds after he had read it and after ten minutes he would start rubbing his forehead and complaining that his head hurt and that he felt sick. Perfect eyesight, smart as a whip, especially in Math but read? -hardly at all! We tried everything and then fate stepped in. (It was probably Someone with a lot more oompf than mere chance.) I was gathering up books to return to friends when the book "Reading by Colours" by Carol Irlen caught my eye. As I was skimming through it, Anthony looked over my shoulders and said in a surprised voice, "Gee, those words look nice." I turned to him and said, "What do you mean NICE?" Anthony explained, "The words are flat with the page and they're not moving." I was baffled, "What do you mean not moving?" Anthony shrugged his shoulders and said, "You know, the letters are not shaking and they're not high off the page." I was astounded, "No, I don't know what you mean." This particular page was grey with black letters. I quickly turned the page to a white one and Anthony wrinkled his forehead and described what he thought everyone saw when they tried to read.


It was like a miracle took over after that revelation, everything clicked into place as I did research on Irlen Syndrome or SSS (Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome);  I realized that Anthony head every symptom and no one in the school system was trained to identify this handicap. I found a screener in Ottawa, Adel Francis. We discovered  that Anthony had not one but five different sight distortions that  were cured with coloured lenses. Within two hours of testing, after Adele had pointed out a few complicated words, Anthony read smoothly and flawlessly at a grade NINE level. We were reduced to tears; this poor kid had been pushed and badgered for years and he just couldn't see the way most other people do. That brings me to another of my Mottos- Do not dismiss or belittle anything your child honestly thinks, feels, experiences or does. You are not omnipotent or the ultimate authority on anything. It takes a lot of humility to really listen to even the babbling of a toddler and to take him seriously, to respect what he is trying to share. I have had to repent many times and it is probably the reason I needed to have so many children. I can be a bit stubborn and thick headed. Enough of the preaching but I want to add that 11% to 13% of people have SSS and they end up frustrated and unfilled. Most are not dumb, they just can't read.




There are quite a few amusing stories to tell that occurred after Anthony started to wear his miracle lenses (they are a mixture of five different colours).After realizing that SSS is an oral listening problem as well, Mara's face lit up one night after the younger ones had left the table to play. "Hey, I just realized that we don't have to send Anthony away if we want to discuss an adult topic; we'll just take off his glass!" We all laughed of course. Then there was the time a friend was attempting to give Anthony a hair cut but he couldn't seem to stop squirming. Rachel suggested, "Why don't you try putting on his glasses?" Anthony put them on and he sat as still as a stone statue. "Oh my god, I don't believe it," she yelled, Everyone come see this. Okay, Anthony, take your glasses off and them put them on when I tell you." The difference was so dramatic AND everyone's reaction was so strong that even Anthony was laughing.