How Do Harris Filters Help Reading Difficulties?

It is possible that up to 20% or more of the population suffer from dyslexia to varying degrees - with many experiencing reading difficulty as a result of visual perceptual distortions (a change to the appearance of text that can make it appear to be  moving or misshapen).

David Harris is a great admirer of the work of Professor John Stein and colleagues at Oxford University. Recent research originally conducted at Oxford University and followed up worldwide concluded that in nearly 74% of dyslexics, the magnocellular pathway (composed of large nerve cells that conduct information very quickly) is not working efficiently.

The paper by Professor John Stein and Vincent Walsh can be read here in PDF format using the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader, which is free and can be obtained by clicking here:

The magnocellular pathway frequently carries information about timing and if incorrectly formed can scramble information passed between the eyes and the brain. If this is the case, lines of words become extremely difficult to identify and reading and writing can be seriously affected.  But other things involving timing and movement are also affected and many dyslexics are notoriously poor at ball games and other activities involving judgement of movement.

Harris Filters appear to re-synchronise the information in the magnocellular pathway - changing the way that information is presented to the brain. This can result in the reduction or elimination of visual distortions and most sufferers describe text as immediately becoming much clearer and easier to identify with their filters in place.

The reduction in distortion makes reading much easier so the biggest effect from the filters can be an improvement in the ease of reading that will hopefully improve confidence and self-esteem too

Last modification 29 May 2005