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Research

Open University research to earn £100!  Dr Chetz Colwell (Project Officer, Accessibility in Educational Media team) has now closed the project

  • The pilot study that investigated the effect on reading with the first lenses before David Harris went on to invent and develop Harris Filters.
  • Other papers, including the abstract from the peer reviewed, double blind, placebo controlled trial are available below
  • The randomised, double blind, placebo controlled study that proves that the original lenses had a significant effect on reading and much greater than a placebo was published in the peer reviewed Journal of the American Optometric Association.  Click this link to read the Medline abstract: Harris D, MacRow-Hill S.J., Application of ChromaGen lenses in dyslexia: a double-masked placebo-controlled trial. J Am Optom Assoc (1999) 70:10 629-640
  • Recent research has been conducted into the effect of the filters on those that have damaged central nervous systems through disease or injury (including brain damage).  The investigation springs from an approach by a charity for the blind.  Although it might appear insensitive to investigate the effect of visual filters with blind people, the reality is that even those who are registered as blind often have some vision although it may be severely reduced.  In fact the work has been highly successful and led to at least one patient wishing to return her guide dog.  The potential with neurological diseases (for example multiple sclerosis) remains high but with both disease and injury, further investigation is continuing.  If you would like to be included in the research, please e-mail your request with details of your condition to  research@harrisdyslexia.com

Bath Mentoring Plus and Harris Foundation Project

"Mentoring Plus is working with the Harris Foundation to assess the benefit of the haploscopic filters for youngsters in the Bath area.

Mentoring Plus is a youth crime prevention project working with young people who have offended or are at risk of offending. The Mentoring project provides an intensive mentoring and education support programme structured over one year. Mentoring Plus covers the whole of Bath & North East Somerset Council and is a registered charity.

The joint project sets out to work with headteachers and special educational needs teachers. Some schools have agreed to participate, and, in conjunction with Mentoring Plus, have selected about thirty youngsters for assessment. David Harris says that about 76% of people who find reading difficult are helped by his filters. We are producing a documentary film to record the assessment process, and the effects of immediately being able to read more easily, with hopefully a similar outcome ratio. We hope to have the documentary ready for Bath schools in early 2005.

This is a voluntary project. Six of the seven youngsters this Mentor has worked with find reading difficult. The four adults are working unpaid, but the filters use up the money raised and donated. The schools do not have spare cash, and unfortunately, many of the parents of these youngsters are in a similar position. We hope to assess another thirty youngsters in the coming months, but cash limitations can slow the rate at which we make progress.

If you would like to help with funding, or find out more about the project in Bath, please speak with David Harris."

Roger Hall, Mentor and Qualified Harris Foundation Assessor - 2004

Last modification 12 October 2006

Copyright © The Harris Foundation 2004