Use of tinted lenses defended

Moerangi Vercoe - 1 February 1991

(from the Dominion 11/5/90)

NEW research dismissing the role of tinted lenses in treating reading difficulties has sparked an angry reaction from special education experts.

The Newcastle University study found Irlen lenses. worn by an estimated 8000 Australians, did not lead to any overall, significant improvement in reading among 60 children surveyed.

The lenses are used in New Zealand, though it is believed their use is not advocated by special education groups.

New Zealand eye specialist Sir Randal Elliot said the lenses were a controversial subject and there was no scientific evidence to support the belief that they could improve reading.

The researchers, reporting in the latest Australian Journal of Psychology, called for caution in use of the lenses because of their unpredictable effects.

Though use could lead to dramatic, instant improvements in some people, this was probably due to behavioural factors rather than the lenses themselves, they said.

The study follows a National Health and Medical Research Council report, issued in Melbourne last week, which concluded there was no scientific evidence to support use of the lenses.

However. a Canberra psychologist specialising in learning disabilities, Peter O’Connor, said large amounts of scientific evidence supporting the lenses should not be ignored because of “tinpot research” involving small numbers of people.

Dr O’Connor said the lenses helped more than half of all people with reading problems, such as seeing blurry or moving print, who did not respond to treatment by optometrists.

He has been heavily involved in the introduction in Australia of the lenses, developed by Californian psychologist Helen Irlen.

Dr O’Connor said the research council represented the vested interests of the medical profession and so was critical of anything it saw as “alternative”.

A senior lecturer in special education at Newcastle University, Gregory Robinson, criticised the council, saying it had not done its homework properly.”

He said the lenses were not a magic cure but had helped many people for whom conventional treatment had failed.