University Daily Kansan / Thursday, May 4, 1989
Science
23
Garry Jones,
Kansas City, Kan,
sophomore and
dyslexia, uses a
magnifier to make
words clearer while
reading.
DYSLEXIA
Paula D. Hofaker/KANSAN
Story by Deb Gruver Kansan planning editor
But.
It's a simple word that that's not so simple for Garry
Iowa. A Kapsas City, Kan, sonhomore.
When he reads "but," he thinks he's reading "put." It's a matter of dyslexia.
Jones was diagnosed last fall as having scoticism sensitivity syndrome, a form of dyslexia caused by sensitivity to light. Dyslexia is a perceptual impairment distorts vision. It affects about 10 percent of adult readers.
Although Jones went undiagnosed for 22 years, he always figured that something was wrong. He could read as well as the other kids. The words blurred together, and he couldn't separate them from the page. Reading gave him headaches — and embarrassment.
"First grade to third was easy." Jones said. "It wasn't too tough. It took me forever to learn to read and tie my shoes. But it wasn't until seventh grade that it not be really hard."
In the seventh grade, he figured out that he was having a harder time learning than most students. To compensate, he turned to athletics and clowning around.
To compensate, he turned to athletics and clowning around.
"I knew two things: I could run, and I could make people laugh." Jones said.
Things were OK for awhile, but he was injured during his junior year and couldn't run any longer.
He received two academic warnings in nine weeks. He said he did poorly because he couldn't read well. So he spoke to a counselor about his problem.
"He said, 'You're lazy. You're going to have to be satisfied working in a factory the rest of your life,'" Jones said. "I knew it wasn't because I was lazy. You don't letter in two sports if you're lazy."
It wasn't until last fall that he got confirmation of a medical problem.
He went to an optometrist and was diagnosed as dyslexic. The doctor first administered a standard eye test. But Jones had learned to memorize eye charts in school tests.
In another test, where Jones looked at slides through a viewfinder, the doctor noticed his eyes pulsed.
"He finally got a test that I hadn't memorized." Jones said.
One of the first things Jones did after finding out he had scotopic sensitivity syndrome was write his high school counselor.
but for some reasons.
Jones's wife, Sherri, said that most people couldn't understand the problems associated with dyslexia, for which the cause is unknown.
"I wanted to prove to him that it wasn't because I笑了笑话," Jones said. "He had said to me hurt, but I took care of him."
She said research shows the problem to be hereditary. Early research led experts to believe that men were affected more than women, but that perception has changed.
"They think that it's actually equal between the sexes." Sherri Jones said. "I think it's probably because men are more comfortable acting out. The women probably just didn't say anything about it."
Fifteen percent of those who suffer from the problem to undiagnosed. Sherri Jones said.
"it's because dyslexics don't go around asking. Do the words jump around like that for you?" she said, "For them, it's normal. They don't know it's any different for us."
Last November, Garry Jones went to the Iren Clinic, 212 W. 25th St., and received a pair of orangish-red colored glasses. They made a world of difference. The glasses never will cure his dyslexia, Jones said, but they do minimize distortions. They shield his eyes from colors they reject.
Linn Suderman, director of the clinic, said that people who are scotopic are sensitive to light intensity.
Jones said that he received his Irren lenses, he experienced stomach pain, eye strain, headaches and distortion. At one point, he had to take Drima-ma's cream against his weakness, just to read and to look through a microscope.
there are more than 150 combinations of lens colors. Researchers don't know why the lenses work, but they overcome most of the distortions that dyslexia experience.
With the glasses, he has no stomach pain, less eye
rain and fewer headaches. And the distortion is 30 per
degree.
prepared good
Jones is doing better in his classes now. He has arranged for note takers. He also uses a tape recorder and is allowed extra time for tests.
no essays are counted for content only because he still has some problems reading and writing. But he said the improvements since November were remarkable.
*Paula D. Hotaker/KANSAN
Jones wore orange-tinted glasses to reduce distortion and a radio to cut down on background noise, which is distracting.
What you see
What Garry Jones sees
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