Enhanced Reading Assessments and Coloured Overlays

ReadEZ for you

Are you reading comfortably?

Do words appear to move, wobble or flicker when you read for any length of time? Do your eyes get tired or do you get headaches when reading? You might be one of the 20% of the population who suffers from a condition known as Visual Stress. Visual Stress is thought to be caused by hyperactivity of certain groups of cells in the brain. The good news is that the symptoms can often be reduced by using a coloured overlay, coloured lenses or by changing the background colour of the screen or tablet that you are looking at. The ReadEZ system was developed at City University London and is used in many hospitals and schools. The coloured overlays, coloured lenses and screen tinting software are now used by 1000s of people around the world.

What do I do next?

Have you had a recent eye examination?

Before considering Visual Stress you need to have a full eye examination to eliminate the other common causes of reading difficulties and to ensure that your eyes are healthy.

If you are still experiencing problems after this, you should speak to us about testing for Visual Stress. We will be able to diagnose the condition if present and give advice on the most appropriate way of managing it. This is done by using either;

• Coloured Overlays, which are made to the highest standards and are very competitively priced.
• Coloured spectacle lenses, which you may find need a slightly different colour to that of your overlay.
• Coloured clip-ons to use over a pair of normal spectacles.

If you use a computer …You can use our ReadEZ Virtual Overlay program to tint your PC Screen to the most comfortable colour for you.

ReadEZ for parents

Is your child falling behind with reading?

Reading is a complex task requiring good vision and some complex processing in the brain. Reading difficulties may be caused by the way information is “processed” by the brain- a condition referred to as dyslexia. If you think your child may have dyslexia, the first step is to speak to their teacher or their school’s special needs coordinator (SENCO) about your concerns. They may be able to arrange for an assessment and if the diagnosis is confirmed, they may be able to offer additional support.

In some cases, reading difficulties can be caused by vision problems such as long-sightedness, astigmatism or problems co-ordinating the eyes. This can be ruled out by having your child’s eyes examined as part of our normal comprehensive eye examination. Eye tests are provided free for children under the age of 16. (Funded by the NHS).

If having ruled out dyslexia and checked that your child’s eyes are healthy, your child is still having problems reading, they might be one of the 20% of the population who suffers from a condition known as Visual Stress.

Visual Stress is thought to be caused by hyperactivity of certain groups of cells in the brain. This causes discomfort while looking at stripy patterns including rows of text. Sufferers often report that the words appear to move, wobble or flicker and sometimes complain of eye strain or headaches after reading.

The good news is that the symptoms can often be reduced by using a coloured overlay, coloured lenses or by changing the background colour of the screen or tablet that they are looking at.

The ReadEZ system was developed at City University London and is used in many hospitals and schools. The coloured overlays, coloured lenses and screen tinting software are now used by 1000s of people around the world.

Find out more by visiting www.readez.co.uk.