Ad watchdog steps in over practice’s dyslexia claims

Complaints made about dyslexia and eye test information on a website belonging to Suffolk-based practice Templeman Opticians have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a specialist dyslexia teacher reported concerns as to whether claims made on the site were misleading and if they could be substantiated. The teacher also told the ASA that they understood dyslexia to be a learning difficulty not caused by visual difficulties and that diagnosis could only be made by a certified assessor.

The ASA’s complaint consisted of two elements; claims made about the causes of dyslexia and claims regarding the practice’s dyslexia testing service. The ASA said the website made claims that dyslexia was caused by visual stress and included phrases such as ‘While dyslexia has its core in a disruption of language processing, some believe that it may be a visual disturbance’, ‘if the dyslexia is caused by, or made worse, by problems with vision then yes, glasses or contact lenses would help’, and ‘dyslexia explained: dyslexia visual stress is a condition contributing to reading difficulties.’ The ASA added that the website also stated a dyslexia testing service would see a visiting optometrist perform a ‘full and comprehensive dyslexia test’ and used the description ‘dyslexia colour tests from the experts’.