What's Irlen Syndrome? Now we know!

Coby has struggled in school, last year at the end of first grade his teacher showed us a spelling test that Coby had finished and the whole thing was in rorrim egami (mirror image). We were a bit concerned and we also knew that he was struggling in reading in spite of our efforts. By the end of the year his 1st grade teacher told us she thought he had dysgraphia.
Coby started 2nd grade with Mr. Monson who I had told to give me any advice he had to help Coby. He watched Coby and then decided that he thought Coby had dyslexia and sent him to do one on one tutoring with the reading specialist at school. His teacher next told me he wanted Coby tested for Special Ed. In comes Conner's teacher who is a friend of mine & tells me she has these colored overlays that you put over your reading material and wants to try them to see if they help. Apparently there is a thing called Irlen Syndrome where neurologically certain light rays make everything move in the vision. We go in and look at the Irlen website and it has examples of what the letters can look like to people with Irlen Syndrome and Coby tells us that all but 2 of the examples are how he see's things. I felt heart sick to think that everything was moving around so much...how could anyone learn seeing like that?
Mrs. McClain had Coby and I come to her house to see if the overlays helped and sure enough he got to one color and it was instant he removed his finger from pointing in the book and read like he never had before. He went up 4 reading levels in a week & a half. Myself and some other women helped push funding through the PTA to get Mrs. McClain Irlen trained. It has been wonderful for so many children. She retested Coby after her training and we found that he has severe Irlen Syndrome.
Irlen makes lenses that you can wear but they cost $350.00 for the screening and $207 for the lenses and then you bring the frames. Lenses are so important to have because everything is done on white smart boards now and you can't put an overlay up in the air so Coby was still struggling with everything else. I finally found a way to use my flex money to pay for them & he is making great strides. He brought home his Daily Language Review test yesterday & he got a 19/22, normally he will score 5/22. His spelling has also improved and his last test he only missed three where usually he only gets 3 right.
He had a rough first few days with kids making fun of him but now they have left him alone and he loves his lenses so much. I am so grateful for people who study and try to find new things to help people with learning disabilities. What a blessing these lenses have been in our lives.