Sometimes there is a moment when life is unexpectedly hurled into chaos.
The phone rang on an otherwise ordinary afternoon. The earnest voice of a nurse practitioner delivered a shattering blow: the doctors wanted my sixteen-year-old daughter to have a brain MRI as soon as possible. They were concerned about her report of visual symptoms that included difficulty keeping her place when reading and writing and her perception that words were moving on the page.

I quickly explained that these symptoms had only occurred after she had started a new medication. The prescribing physician agreed and we had discontinued the medication.

"We don't think this is a medication side effect," came the somber decree. Then the axe fell. "We think she may have MS."

The universe was suddenly pitch dark. When the lights came back on, the day was drained of color. I found myself perched precariously between denial and dread. The next days proceeded in a haze. A trip to the optometrist was encouraging: Melanie's optic nerve appeared healthy. Two excruciatingly long days later she had the MRI. Then there was another long day of waiting for the results. The MRI was completely normal! The lights came back on and life resumed its vibrant color.

Still, there was the nagging question. What had caused these disturbing visual symptoms? I took to the Internet in search of an answer and after several twists and turns, my "net surfing" led me to find Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS) which would shed new light on these perplexing symptoms.

Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome

Educational psychologist, Helen Irlen, first identified Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, also known as Irlen Syndrome. SSS is not an optical problem, but is a visual- perceptual problem involving the encoding and decoding of visual information. Individuals with SSS actually see the printed page differently and must continually adapt to a variety of distortions on the page. This often results in slow, inefficient reading and poor comprehension as well as fatigue, headache and decreased attention span. While SSS is not in itself a learning disability it is often found to coexist with other learning disabilities.

In a recent interview, Helen Irlen states that SSS is found in 26% of the general population but its prevalence increases to 46% when looking at a population of students with learning difficulties. Irlen adds that many youngsters with SSS are mislabeled as "lazy" or "underachievers." They may

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