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Irlen Screener Training- Innisfail, AB

3/2/2015

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It's not too late to register for this workshop. Email nola@irlenalberta.ca with any questions.
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Membership Fees REDUCED!

11/4/2014

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Membership fees have been reduced. If you joined in 2014 your membership is now valid to the end of 2015. Check out the updates fees under memberships. If you are uncertified or not active as a screener you can join as an associate or affiliate. Email with any questions!
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Webinar- Marketing Your Irlen Business

9/24/2014

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Irlen Screener Training:  Welland, Ontario, November 22-23, 2014

6/26/2014

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Irlen Screener Training Workshop- Innisfail-July 2014

6/25/2014

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Irlen Screener Certification Workshop - Edmonton, AB

6/10/2014

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 Irlen Screener Certification Workshop
August 19 – 21, 2014

Screener Certification is an intensive training session for qualified persons who wish to be licensed to test for Irlen Syndrome. 

Licensed screeners are able to recognize and test for Irlen Syndrome, determine which coloured overlays reduce symptoms, recommend classroom and home adaptations and give presentations about Irlen Syndrome.

Certified Irlen Screeners are part of an International Network of professionals who help maximize educational, work, and daily activity performance for children and adults with reading problems, ADD/ADHD, chronic migraines/headaches, light sensitivity, anxieties, autism and sensory processing disorders.

This Workshop is offered to:
Teachers, Psychologists, Counselors, Adult Literacy Teachers, Health Professionals, Speech-Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Learning Specialists and Educational
Therapists.


An undergraduate degree, teaching credential, graduate degree or appropriate license is required.


Recommendation: read both Helen Irlen’s Reading by  the Colors and The Irlen Revolution prior to training.  (Available from Reading & Writing Consultants, Inc at cost.)

Trainees must complete 3 practice screenings to complete certification requirements.

Dates: August 19 – 21st, 2014       
Time: Aug. 19th-7:00 pm to 9:00 pm        
Aug. 20th, 21st-9:00 am to 4:30 pm

Location:     Malcolm Tweddle School, 
                    2340 Millbourne Rd W NW, 
                     Edmonton, AB T6K 1Y9


Cost: (includes GST):$800 (includes training & testing materials)

For a registration form please call 780-439-8120 or e-mail reading@telus.net
A brief resume and a cover letter explaining your interest in Irlen Syndrome will be required along with your registration form.   



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Irlen awareness week!

6/9/2014

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Webinar-May 12, 2014

5/10/2014

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CAIP is pleased to offer our first webinar on May 12, 2014 at noon Alberta time.

The webinar is available to members only. Those members unable to      attend can view the webinar when they want through the Members only section of the CAIP website. As well, people who join CAIP later will have access to the webinar when their membership is active.

We hope you enjoy this webinar and look forward to your feedback!

Nola Stigings, CAIP President


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Errors professionals make in relation to Irlen syndrome

3/9/2014

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I had this student read with and without his color filter and I did not observe any significant difference...



I frequently overhear comments made by professionals which suggest on their part
an incomprehension about Irlen Syndrome. Yet these well-meaning individuals work in fields that are very close to mine: learning, perceptual difficulties and optimising brain functioning. Some of these issues I wish to address in this instalment.


This simple statement suggests a basic misunderstanding of Irlen’s Syndrome that I wish to discuss. This well-meaning professional had the best intentions, but did not take into account the fact that distortions may not always manifest themselves after only a few sentences. A study by Tyrrell, R., Holland, K., Dennis, D. and Wilkins  A. (1995) (i) suggests, in fact, that on the average there needs to be about 10 minutes of demanding visual activity such as reading before the typical symptoms of Irlen syndrome occur: moving letters, narrowing of the visual span [ii], waving of the lines of text, distortion of the background such as the apparition of colors, gray or bright zones, auras, etc.  These distortions alone will make reading less efficient, will hamper comprehension and lead to visual fatigue, which in turn will have an effect on attention.

The rate of reading is not the only aspect that a rigorous professional should consider when assessing the value of color filters. There are other elements such as fatigue, distractibility, discomfort, and the numbers of errors and self-corrections. For the sake of objectivity, one should consider the degree of fatigue and discomfort after a visually demanding task of at least 15 minutes, then only then question the student about his experiences comparing a white page and a “protected” page using a Irlen® color filter. Consideration should be given to the subtle facial signs of visual stress (squinting, etc.)

Another expression of scientific rigor would be to observe and compare the length of time the student will remain attentive, during a reading period, with and without filters. Will he require more rest periods, in one situation compared to the other? Can he or she remain on task longer? Is he or she better at picking up information from the page? Will he or she show more or less fatigue at the end of the school day? Finally, is he or she better at self-correcting small mistakes? Any improvements in these areas suggests that the brain has more resources available to deal with tasks that are metacognitive in nature.

Jacques Guimond, Irlen Diagnostician



[i] Tyrrell, R., Holland, K., Dennis, D. et Wilkins, A. (1995) - Coloured Overlays, Visual Discomfort, Visual Search and Classroom Reading.  Journal of Research in Reading, 18(1), pp 10-23


[ii]  Do not confuse with peripheral vision. Visual span is the area of the field of vision where the text is sharp enough to be read without the need for the eye to move on the page.


[iii] Lewine, J.D. (1999). - Changes in visual evoked magnetic field for people with SS/S.

Fourth Biannual Australasian Irlen Conference. Newcastle, Australia, May 20-22


[iv] Wilkins, Huang et Cao, (2007) Prevention of Visual Stress and Migraine With Precision Spectral Filters – Research Overview, Drug Development and Research 68:469–475 (2007)
.
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Jacques Guimond, Irlen diagnostician
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Controversial Irlen Syndrome advocate pushes for screening in Alberta schools

9/27/2013

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    By Keith Gerein, Edmonton Journal - September 25, 2013


    Controversial Irlen Syndrome advocate pushes for screening in Alberta
      schools



    EDMONTON - The Alberta school system should mandate screening for a
      little-known neuro-processing disorder, even though much of the medical
      community questions its existence, a controversial American researcher told
    MLAs  Wednesday.


    Helen Irlen, the California-based academic for whom Irlen Syndrome is named,
      spoke to a legislature committee debating a contentious bill that would require
      teachers who recognize symptoms of the disorder to recommend to parents that a
      child be officially tested.


    “The majority of the population does not have Irlen Syndrome and so the
      symptoms to them make absolutely no sense, and then they can’t believe in it,” 
    Irlen told committee members. “If the school system doesn’t do it, nobody is
      going to do it.”


    Irlen Syndrome, also known as scotopic sensitivity or visual stress syndrome,
      is described as a neurological problem in which the brain’s capacity to make
      sense of visual information is corrupted by an inability to properly process
    the  light spectrum. The condition is said to produce a variety of symptoms but
    is  most often noticed through difficulty in reading. Sufferers frequently
    complain  about letters blurring together or moving around on the page because
    of the  syndrome, which is said to be often mistaken for dyslexia or attention
    deficit  hyperactivity disorder.


    The issue is treated by wearing custom-made tinted lenses that are formulated
      by the Irlen Institute in California.


    However, much of the medical and academic community is skeptical about the
      condition. The proposed Alberta legislation, known as the Irlen Syndrome
    Testing  Act, has drawn opposition from optometrists and ophthalmologists, the
    College of  Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, and others characterizing it as
      ill-conceived legislation not backed up by credible scientific evidence.


    The Alberta College of Optometrists, which also made a presentation to MLAs
      Wednesday, argued the credible research on the subject has found no evidence of
      a widespread syndrome and cast serious doubts on the long-term benefits of the
      Irlen treatment method. Furthermore, they suggested the bill could be dangerous
      in that it might result in a large number of false positive results,
    potentially  blocking the diagnosis of more common vision or neurological
    abnormalities.


    However, Irlen dismissed such concerns, spending most of her presentation
      trying to debunk that research while touting other studies that support the
      Irlen Syndrome diagnosis and treatment method.


    “You can make research say anything you want it to,” she said.


    In a later interview, she acknowledged that such duelling research makes it
      difficult for people to know what to believe. But she said the best evidence
      comes from parents who have seen their children’s lives changed when they
      receive the coloured overlays or lenses that help them overcome their learning
      troubles.


    About 15 of those parents and a few children were in the committee room
      Wednesday, many of them wearing lenses of blue, orange or grey.


    “I’d say that 80 to 90 per cent of the individuals we see come to us to
      because they are referred not from professionals but from other parents who
    have  been helped,” Irlen said.


    She said she came to Alberta because the proposed legislation would be
      precedent setting for Canada. A similar bill is in the works in
      Massachusetts.


    The Alberta bill is sponsored by veteran Progressive Conservative MLA Mary
      Anne Jablonski, whose grandson was diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome.


    At one point on Wednesday, Jablonski got into a heated exchange with a pair
      of optometrists who suggested Irlen Syndrome would suffer the same fate as
    other  questionable “miracle cures.”


    “This is just another little bubble that will go away as other have,” Calgary
      optometrists Margaret Penny said.


    “You are so wrong,” Jablonski replied.


    “It’s not based on science,” Penny shot back.


    The Alberta School Boards Association also spoke against the bill, saying the
      province should not single out one condition in legislation from other issues
      children have.


    kgerein@edmontonjournal.com
    © 
    Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal


    If you want to have Irlen testing added to teacher’s recommendations as a possible intervention for parents to pursue for children who are struggling at school please write your local MLA.
      This is urgent as in October the Committee will be deciding whether or not to
      defeat Bill 204 or recommend that it go back to the legislature so it can be
      passed. 

  •  



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