Tinted lenses bring struggling pupil out of shade

Megan Hooley, 12, struggled at school with her reading and writing – words blurred together and the white colour of a page was too bright for her.

Her school tested her for dyslexia which resulted in a positive diagnosis but, unbeknown to her teachers, Megan is not in fact dyslexic.

She already wore glasses that had a long-sighted lens in them and received support from her school including a blue overlay panel which she could put over text in a book to enable her to read easier by filtering out the glare.

But a trip to the University of Bradford Eye Clinic proved to be a turning point for the youngster.

When Megan visited the clinic requesting an assessment for coloured lenses she was found to have a slight drifting of her eyes at near as well as a weakness in the way her eyes attempt to correct this.

Some simple exercises were recommended for Megan to do at home which were successful in building up the strength of her eye muscles.

In addition, she was assessed for precision tinted lenses and it was found that a specific green tint helped her to read more efficiently and more comfortably than the blue overlay she had previously used.

Optometrist Caroline Wilson said: "Many children benefit from coloured overlays and lenses. However, many children with reading difficulties have subtle muscle balance and focusing problems which may not be discovered during a routine sight test.

"It is important that any patient with visual symptoms whilst reading should have an extended eye examination to look in depth at the muscle control, focusing and co-ordination of the eyes.

"If any abnormalities are present these may contribute to the inability to read comfortably and easily. If a child has an underlying visual problem, coloured lenses or overlays may initially help with reading comfort but there may still be instability of the eyes which is likely to contribute to reading difficulties. It is important to assess for this."

Before the assessment, Megan had a difficult time at school because she was a very slow reader and found it hard to retain information.

Her mother Carol Hooley said the glasses have made a big difference to Megan's confidence.