THROUGHOUT his childhood, teenager Craig Chadwick has struggled with reading and writing but now he has been handed a lifeline through coloured filter lenses.

Throughout his early childhood and school years, the 13-year-old from Catterick showed no interest in reading a book and eventually resigned himself to the fact that he was thick.

But his mother, Mrs Jacqueline Samways, refused to believe it. "As a child he never picked up a book like other children normally do.

"His verbal skills were good and you could have an intelligent conversation with him and he could get by with pictures but when we took those away we realised there was a problem,'' said Mrs Samways.

Eventually, at the age of six, Craig's primary school teacher told Mrs Samways that the youngster had a specific learning difficulty.

Craig was, in fact, dyslexic but a recent eye test also revealed that he was battling another problem which affected his eyesight - Meares-Irlen Syndrome.

This meant that when the teenager was reading he would often find the print was distorted.

"I would be trying to read but the words were blurred," he explained.

The problem was detected when Mrs Samways took her son to see Mrs Penny Hodgson, an orthopist who specialises in colour-filter treatments.

After a series of tests and assessments using a special intuitive colorimeter machine, it was discovered that Craig's blurring vision disappeared with the help of coloured overlays.

"This problem co-exists with 50pc of people who also have dyslexia,'' explained Mrs Hodgson.

She explained some of the symptoms, such as words dancing around on the page, the blurring of print and patterns in the text, were not usually picked up in normal eye tests.

Mrs Hodgson, who lives in Danby Wiske, near Northallerton, decided to specialise in colour-filter treatment when she saw the dramatic effect it had on people with visual problems such as double vision.

She has quit her job at the Friarage hospital to concentrate on the treatment full-time. Opticians Cooper and Leatherbarrow have purchased a colormeter machine to help with the work.

"I am hoping to get into the schools and have sent information out to teachers and asked if they spot the problem to mention it to parents,'' said Mrs Hodgson.

"Children don't question these problems. They think it is normal so you have got to be able to sit down with them and ask the right questions and try not to ask leading questions that could influence them. You need reliable responses.

"It is amazing the way they describe their problems. For example, 'I have to try and catch the word before I can read it,' '' she said.

She also explained that different colours helped different people. "You have to find the right colour. There has been a lot of research to show that colour is specific of that person.''

It is greeny-blue tinted glasses that have helped Craig overcome his blurry vision and the effect on him has been dramatic.

"The glasses have been a real boon. They have helped him focus on the words. His writing has also improved,''' explained Mrs Samways.

"Before he had the glasses he labelled himself as thick, now he's trying to focus on what he wants to be when he leaves school and he wants to learn to drive which was out of the question before because he had no short-term memory and he couldn't focus on anything for long enough.''

Craig will always have dyslexia and the visual problems he experiences, but with the help of the glasses he has been able to focus on his future rather than the daily battle with his learning difficulties.

A keen horse rider, he races Shetland ponies competitively and plans to become a jockey.

"Since I have started reading better I can read about horses and read instructions on what to do,'' he said.

"At primary school, I used to keep this all to myself and didn't see the point. Nobody knew what was wrong with me.''

For more information about colour filter treatment, contact Mrs Hodgson on 01609 780393 or at pennyhodgso