Narrative
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Cecil O'Brie's former co-workers were surprised that the thirty-seven year old man was going back to school.  They were even more surprised that Cecil was returning to complete the GED.  And they would have been shocked to learn that he tested at a third grade reading level.

An articulate and soft-spoken man, Cecil has struggled with reading his entire life.  Frustrated and discouraged, he dropped out of school in ninth grade.   This limited him to mostly manual labor jobs.  When he enrolled in the GED program at the Kalamazoo Adult High School last September, Cecil was determined to get the education he wanted and needed.  There he met Janet Beerbower, reading teacher for the Adult Basic Education and GED programs.  "Cecil worked hard but he struggled to make progress," said Janet.  "When reading aloud, it became evident that he was running sentences together, without notice of punctuation.  Because of this, what he read had no meaning."  His eyes were also extremely sensitive to light and his eyes tired quickly."  Both daylight and room light gave me terrible headaches.  At home I lived in a very dark environment and I avoided going out in bright sunlight whenever possible," shared Cecil.

Janet had attended a training session  at the Irlen Clinic in Evanston, Illinois to learn about a form of dyslexia referred to as Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome.  Known as SSS, it is a dysfunction of the visual system caused by an over-sensitivity to certain wavelengths (colors) of full spectrum light.   It is estimated that one out of every ten to fifteen people have some degree of SSS.  She began to suspect that this may be the secret to unlocking Cecil's ability to read.   Persons with SSS see the printed word differently.  For some, words seem to swim across the page.  For others, they swirl in a circular motion.  Cecil seemed to have what is called the "rivers" effect, where the words on the printed page run together.

Cecil had already undergone a complete eye exam with an eye care professional, and had corrective lenses prescribed for his vision.  Janet did a preliminary SSS screening with Cecil in early January, which is done with a wide range of colored overlays to see if the reading distortions improve.  She is determined that Cecil should be referred to a specialist in Ann Arbor for a thorough evaluation.   Normally a $200 visit, Janet had "won" a free examination for one student at the training session.  The examination evaluates vision using a range of more than 150 different distinct shades, to determine which shade is right for each individual.

In February, Cecil made the trip to Ann Arbor with Doug Wood, Kalamazoo Adult Education Principal.  "It was a bright, sunny winter day, and my head started to hurt as we drove to Ann Arbor," remembered Cecil.  "But when we got there, the specialist knew what kind of environment I needed and her office and everything was in low light."  The color of tinting to best help Cecil's SSS turned out to be a very deep purple.  his regular glasses were sent to California for the special coating.  The $75 cost was covered by a Kalamazoo Adult Education student council scholarship.

Today Cecil is reading at an eighth grade level, and is expected to earn his GED within the next six months.  He plans to complete a welding course so he can begin an apprenticeship as a tool and die maker in the fall.  An unexpected change also awaited Cecil with his tinted lenses.  "When I went back to my hometown recently, friends and relatives did not recognize me right away.  Before, my face had always been strained and scrunched up with stress.  Without the headaches and the stress, I look like a different person!"

Clues To Spotting Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome *

IMPORTANT

If  you suspect Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, the individual must first have a comprehensive vision exam by an optometrist or ophthalmologist to have any acuity or refraction problems corrected.  Then testing can be done to determine the existence of SSS.

Often, an individual with dyslexia has more than one type of learning disability.  Tinted lenses or plastic overlays were found to help 88% of dyslexic individuals read better.

* Source:   The Irlen Institute, Long Beach, Ca