Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome

What is Scotopic Sensitivity Sydrome (SSS)?

First, when describing this particular syndrome ‘Scotopic’ does not mean ‘night vision’. Also SSS is not a vision problem that involves difficulties with the functioning of the eye, but rather is a perceptual dysfunction. The brain of a person with SSS appears to have difficulty managing full spectral light, causing many different types of print distortions or background interference. It is suspected that this sensitivity to full spectrum light could be linked to a structural brain deficit involving the central nervous system (Irlen, 1991: 57). If this is the case, and it is still only a theory, then the signals sent to the brain would not be processed in the normal way, thus causing perceptual problems. It is not a separate learning difficulty, but is ‘a complex and variable condition often found to exist as a component of dyslexia, dyscalculia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and many other learning problems’ (Irlen, 1991: 31).