Dyslexia Centre has been created to offer a uniquely holistic approach to diagnosing and treating the various disorders that fall under the banner of Dyslexia.
In time, it will provide a full range of allied health Dyslexia diagnosis, treatment and remediation services, however for now, we figured that we would serve where the need is greatest.
Nearly 20% of the population suffers from Visual Processing Disorder (the broader name for visual processing challenges such as Visual Stress, Meares-Irlen, Perceptual Dyslexia and Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome).
When reading printed text on a white background, typical symptoms include text distortions such as
- waving/shaking
- swirling
- fading
- see-sawing
- blurring
- haloing/shadowing
- seeing the spaces rather than the text.
Other symptoms we typically see are:
- light sensitivity
- mental fatigue
- depth perception challenges
- tired, painful, irritated eyes
- headaches
- poor reading and spelling
- poor comprehension
The worst part about Visual Processing Disorder is that most people who have it – don’t know it. They think that these symptoms are the same for everybody, and so they often struggle on through life never knowing that there can be a better “normal”.
Because reading can often be a challenge, many of these people pursue work that they believe will have less reading e.g. trades. However, reading is so much a part of what we do today, that they cannot really escape it.
The hit to their self-esteem is often huge as others ridicule them for tripping over their words, not reading quickly enough, their poor spelling, their mental fatigue and headaches, and the fact that they sometimes bump into stuff.
But we know that there is a better kind of normal, and with such a need in the community for it, Dyslexia Centre will start by helping clients with Visual Processing Disorder and then develop out the other services as time goes on.