Dyslexia is a condition that affects the way people see and comprehend words. Symptoms of dyslexia vary from person to person, but many people afflicted with the condition see words and letters move when they try to read. As a result, it is difficult to read and understand text without experiencing fatigue, eye strain and frustration. Many dyslexia treatment specialists claim that the condition is solely neurological in nature and that it cannot be treated with any type of optical correction, but new developments in the field have challenged that assumption, indicating that special lenses or eyeglasses may be a solution for dyslexia symptoms.
In dyslexic patients who cannot read because of words floating and drifting on the page, each eye is thought to process light differently. The right eye sends signals to the left side of the brain, and the left eye sends signals to the right side of the brain. When the signals from each eye reach the brain at different rates, the brain cannot properly process what is seen. This can cause the words in a reading passage to float, scrunch together, stretch out or appear blurry.
In addition to affecting the way words display on a page, dyslexia can cause issues with handwriting, fine motor skills, balance and coordination. Learning and pronouncing new words may also be difficult. Adults and children with dyslexia may also have issues with remembering spelling rules, memorizing facts, following a long sequence of instructions or learning a foreign language.
While a full cure for dyslexia is still in the works, there are several standard dyslexia treatments that help children and adults manage the condition. Special education teachers and reading specialists can help children learn to read better with an intensive study of phonics, reading aloud as much as possible and using all of the senses instead of just visual clues for learning. Other solutions for dyslexia involve creating an optimal learning environment that plays up to the child’s strengths. This can include classroom modifications such as giving the dyslexic person extra time to finish assignments, giving oral examinations in addition to written ones and using assistive computer technology such as voice-recognition software. Placing colored filters over the text can also help some people read more easily.
An innovative treatment for dyslexia, ChromaGen lenses are designed to help the eyes work together to send the appropriate signals to the brain while reading. Customized for each patient’s unique needs, this optical treatment comes in several styles, including eyeglasses, contact lenses and clip-on lenses. A certified provider of the product, who is always a qualified optometrist or ophthalmologist, chooses from 16 different lenses to deliver the right wavelengths of light from the eyes to the brain to help patients read with greater ease. If a patient needs prescription lenses for farsightedness, nearsightedness or other visual impairments, the prescription can easily be integrated into the ChromaGen lenses for optimal vision on all levels.