Prescription tinted glasses called ChromaGen lenses helping ease dyslexia

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Can an $800 pair of glasses help a child with dyslexia read better? The answer is yes, for some children. And the glasses are simple, basically colored filters.

Many parents who have spent thousands on tutors don't know they're available. So we found out more information on the so-called dyslexia glasses and how to find out if they might work for your child.

When Hannah Luedke reads, her dyslexia makes words on the page seem to move.

"I generally get dizzy and I have to close my eyes for a while and the teacher sometimes mistaken it like I'm sleeping or something. But it's OK," she said. "Everything is shaking so it's hard to read. But with the glasses on, I'm able to focus on it and none of the words move. It's like it's supposed to be on the paper, just still."

The glasses, called chromagen lenses, are basically colored filters.

Kade Taylor also has dyslexia, and his grades changed when he got the ChromaGen glasses.

"They've improved, much better now," he said.

"Night and day, it was amazing. He went to school with them, the teachers were like, 'You can't have tinted glasses at school, he can't have them,' and I said, 'They're prescription of some sorts,' so sent him back. After that, the teachers were like, 'He can't come back without them!'" Taylor's mother, Amy Taylor, said.

At first, Dr. Angela Marcaccio was skeptical about the glasses.

"It was too simple," she said.

Doctors measure each eye and use a different color in each eye to help the eyes synchronize, but they don't look that different.

"What the different colored filters will do is slow this one down, speed this one up so that the letters are not bouncing around and moving so much," Dr. Marcaccio said.

Luedke says she doesn't notice the color difference in her lenses, and she knows they won't cure her dyslexia. But now, reading is something she no longer dreads.

You can find out if these glasses might help your child with dyslexia by having them take a seven-question survey.

Find Christi on Facebook at ABC13-Christi Myers or on Twitter at @ChristiMyers13

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