What is the Difference Between Irlen Syndrome and Dyslexia

The key difference between Irlen syndrome and dyslexia is that Irlen syndrome is a perceptual processing disorder that occurs due to an interruption between the synaptic pathway from the eyes to the brain, while dyslexia is a learning disorder that occurs due to a disruption in communication between pathways connecting the auditory, visual, and language centers in the brain.

Irlen syndrome and dyslexia are two medical conditions that have many similar symptoms. Both are due to the problems in communication pathways in the brain. However, Irlen syndrome is a perceptual processing disorder, while dyslexia is a language-based learning disability.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Irlen Syndrome 
3. What is Dyslexia
4. Similarities – Irlen Syndrome and Dyslexia
5. Irlen Syndrome vs. Dyslexia in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Irlen Syndrome vs. Dyslexia

What is Irlen Syndrome?

Irlen syndrome is a perceptual processing disorder. Someone suffering from this condition has difficulty making sense of visual information. This is usually different from problems with sight or vision. This condition can affect a person’s academic and work performance, behavior, attention, and concentration. The symptoms of Irlen syndrome may include reading problems, discomfort, attention, and concentration problems, writing problems, headache, anxiety, fatigue from computer use, difficulty reading music, sloppy maths errors, misaligned numbers in columns, ineffective usage of study time, low motivation, lower grades that do not reflect the amount of effort, clumsiness, difficulty in catching balls, difficulty judging distances and distortions such as words appearing on the page, lacking clarity or stability. Irlen syndrome is often due to hereditary defects, which are usually a result of a defect in visual pathways.

Moreover, Irlen syndrome is diagnosed through family history, physical examination, and visual stress test. Furthermore, treatment options for Irlen syndrome may include the use of colored overlays or lenses that block out specific wavelengths of light that allows the brain to process visual information more efficiently.

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. This condition results in problems with reading, writing, and spelling. However, intelligence is not affected by this condition. The signs and symptoms of dyslexia may include reading and writing very slowly, confusing the order of letters, confusing letters that look similar, inconsistent spellings, difficulty with information that is written down but understanding information verbally, finding problems carrying out a sequence of directions, struggling with planning and organizational skills, low self-esteem, behavioral problems, anxiety, and aggression. Dyslexia often runs in families and results from individual differences in parts of the brain enabling reading.

Moreover, dyslexia can be diagnosed through medical history, questionnaires, vision, hearing, and neurological tests, psychological evaluations, and tests for reading and other academic skills. Furthermore, treatment options for dyslexia may include reading aids and special learning plans called Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).

What are the Similarities Between Irlen Syndrome and Dyslexia?

• Irlen syndrome and dyslexia are two medical conditions that have many similar symptoms.
• Both are caused due to problems in communication pathways in the brain.
• Both have similar symptoms, such as difficulty in reading, anxiety, fatigue, etc.
• They can be diagnosed through physical examination and neurological testing.
• They are treated through special aids.

What is the Difference Between Irlen Syndrome and Dyslexia?

Irlen syndrome is a perceptual processing disorder that occurs due to an interruption between the synaptic pathway from the eyes to the brain, while dyslexia is a learning disorder that occurs due to a disruption in communication between pathways connecting the auditory, visual, and language centers in the brain. Thus, this is the key difference between Irlen syndrome and dyslexia. Furthermore, Irlen syndrome is caused due to hereditary defects, which usually result from a defect in visual pathways. On the other hand, dyslexia is caused due to hereditary defects, which typically result from individual differences in parts of the brain that enable reading.

The infographic below presents the differences between Irlen syndrome and dyslexia in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Irlen Syndrome vs. Dyslexia

The brain is a vital organ that controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger, and other process of the human body. Brain communication pathways play a pivotal role in this control. Irlen syndrome and dyslexia are two conditions that occur due to problems in communication pathways in the brain. Both of these disorders share similar symptoms as well. Irlen syndrome is a perceptual processing disorder, while dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. So, this is the key difference between Irlen syndrome and dyslexia.

Reference:

1. “What Is IRLEN Syndrome? Causes & Symptoms.” Exceptional Individuals.
2. “Dyslexia.” Mayo Clinic.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Irlen syndrome text” By en:User:Scm83x – en:File:Irlen.gif (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Dyslexia” By Scientific Animations (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia