​Early 1980s 

The Question

Helen Irlen, an educational psychologist,
received a US Federal grant to work with
adults struggling to read. Instead of asking
1500 students, "Can you see the page?",
she asked, "What does the page look like?"

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The Breakthrough

Adults described strange experiences: letters moving, print blurring, a white glare that hurt their eyes, and family members finding this amusing. Helen's research showed this was a previously unrecognized condition

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1983             

The Solution

A student comment that a red overhead projector overlay helped her reading, led Helen to experiment. She found that different colours helped different people. Some dramatically improved immediately. Helen developed precise colour combinations using a spectrometer

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1984                 

Going Public 

Helen presented her findings "Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome" to the American Psychological Association  Medical, educational and allied health professionals were unaware this condition existed. Later the condition was called Irlen Syndrome.

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1985                 

The Irlen Method

Patent submitted for coloured lenses in glasses The Irlen Institute was established to train practitioners • Independently, a  New Zealand teacher Olive Meares had documented similar findings. Now the condition is also known as Meares-Irlen Syndrome..

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1988                 

Worldwide Recognition

60 Minutes TV program featured the discovery • Thousands of people worldwide finally understood their reading struggles.

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Watch the unbelievable description of differences...
and listen to the changes