Children’s Reading Assessment
Reading difficulties in children can be caused by a variety of factors. These include near focusing problems (refraction disorders), eye co-ordination weakness (binocular vision disorders), visual perception distortions and more complex educational disorders
Coloured (Intuitive) Overlays
Coloured overlays are sheets of transparent coloured plastic that are placed over reading text. In some children they can reduce the visual stress and enable more fluent reading with less discomfort and fewer headaches. An increasing number of optometrists, teachers and educational psychologists now perform screening for colour sensitive reading anomalies. Dyslexic traits can not be treated with these overlays, but a proportion of both dyslexics and non-dyslexics have benefited from improved reading by their use.
The effectiveness of coloured overlays is assessed by comparing the rate of reading of text on a white background against that achieved on the preferential colour for a particular patient. The test is conducted on a computer screen with specially designed software developed at The Department of Optometry and Visual Science at The City University, London. If the colour overlay screener shows an increase in reading speed, with a particular colour, an overlay will be provided for the patient to try for a period of time- at home or in the classroom.