Abilities OT Services (AOTSS) & Irlen Diagnostic Center (IrlenVLCMD) is a regional center for Irlen screenings and diagnostic testing. Our specialized occupational therapy evaluations, ADA/504/home modifications assessments, and injury prevention/wellness coaching and organizational consultation promote independence, working productivity, and wellness.
AOTSS & IrlenVLCMD serves children and adults with learning & neurobiological challenges, stress related conditions, age-related decline, & those with disabilities that are affected by environmental barriers & neurobiological stressors.
Our clinic serves clients in the Mid-Atlantic region: Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. We provide phone and remote consultation internationally, as well as, expert witness testimony for medical malpractice and workman’s compensation cases. Clients will often travel from other regions to our clinic to obtain our specialized services. AOTSS/IrlenVLCMD maintains satellite offices at the Amen Clinic in Reston, VA, NJ, and Richmond, VA for Irlen Services.
AOTSS staff and consulting professionals are specially trained educators, physicians, & therapists, including licensed occupational therapists.
Abilities OT Services, Inc. is a national provider of continuing education trainings under the AOTA APP program for CE. Our seminars are approved for CEUs/PDUs for OTs/OTAs nationally, and social workers & educators (MSDE) in Maryland. NAHB CAPS has approved our trainings for CE for building industry professionals. We offer trainings covering a wide variety of specialized services at our Baltimore, MD offices, international sponsorship at your location, or home study via the internet for medical, design/build, and HR professionals.
Some of our Irlen Screening/Diagnostic and OT services may be reimbursable or medical or educational tax deductible for OT via medical insurance, government programs, vocational rehabilitation, private funding, and flexible spending accounts.
In some cases vocational rehabilitation, community social service agencies, The Lions Club/Rotary Club, military programs, and other private and government programs have provided funds for testing, spectral tints, accessibility consultation and specialized environmental assessments for home/jobsite modifications, injury prevention, & legislative compliance (ADA, 504, Fair Housing, etc.)
AOTSS/IrlenVLCMD does not take health insurance directly, but will provide a coded receipt for reimbursement and documentation upon request when services are provided in Maryland. Payment for services are due at the time of service. A deposit is required to hold a time and date for Irlen testing or an environmental assessment. .
Our clients include children & adults of all ages who have one or more of the following:
- Dyslexia
- Dysgraphia
- Dyscalculia
- ADD/HD
- Light Sensitivity (Photophobia)
- Headaches & Migraines
- Autism
- TBI brain injuries & strokes
- Anxiety disorders
- Depression & BiPolar Disorders
- Sensory Processing Disorders
- Visual Stress and Visual Distortions
- Computer Stress
- Chronic Stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder
- People with Disabilities and Aging Adults who wish to adapt their home, work, school, or community environments to maximize independence, safety, accessibility, and caregiving. Injury prevention, wellness, and aging in place are additional goals.
- Designers and Builders (architects, interior designers, landscape architects, home builders, developers, remodelers, kitchen and bath specialists)
- Educators and Administrators who wish to address sensory overload and sensory motor programming for students/workers, and professional development for their staff.
Often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed conditional can be helped immediately with observable symptom improvement in the testing session, track ongoing progress, and minimize the need for more extensive and ongoing cost and time of tutoring, educational resources, therapies, and other interventions, etc.
A collaborative treatment plan to coordinate interventions and professionals will maximize the effectiveness of interventions by eliminating or minimizing the impact of overwhelming and ongoing sensory and environmental stressors. . By minimizing and removing environmental barriers and biological stressor contributing to a person’s limitations or disability can enable a person to improve academic performance, productivity at work, immune system function, stress tolerance, pain management, and enhance health and wellness.
One stressor, light, can produce a condition known as scotopic sensitivity syndrome, or light sensitivity. It can be devastating and undetected for a lifetime if not properly diagnosed and treatment provided. Since we need light to function, sensitivity in this area is pervasive and often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, symptoms mimicking or attributed to other conditions. This condition is also known as visual dyslexia, visual sensory processing disorder, photophobia, and Irlen Meares Syndrome.
Irlen Syndrome is often exacerbated by fluorescent or bright lights, high contrast patterns, working at computer screens, driving especially at night, during sustained activities such as exams, or physical inactivity, stressful situations, illnesses like Lyme disease, and sports injuries or concussions. By decreasing visual stress, other processing problems can improve such as executive functioning, focus/attention, emotional balance, auditory processing, behavior, and gross and fine motor coordination.