About Us

Alternative Resource Center (ARC) For Student Wellness is a non-profit organization offering new methodologies and nontraditional evaluation and resource services to people with learning differences and disabilities.

As one of only a few certified locations for the Irlen Syndrome and The Listening Program in Hampton Roads, ARC is your regional provider of alternative learning solutions. Established in 2004, the organization was started by Linda Riddle, an experienced learning disabilities educator.

Irlen Syndrome Screening and Evaluations

The Irlen Syndrome is a perceptual problem that affects people's ability to read clearly, proficiently, and in some cases not at all. Those who suffer from Irlen Syndrome perceive printed pages of text differently due to distortions from the print or background. Often this leads to slower reading speeds, an inability to comprehend the material, stress and fatigue. People with Irlen Syndrome can have lower attention spans, a lack of motivation for learning and poor handwriting and depth perception.

First identified by Helen Irlen in 1980 while working with adult learners in California, she observed that some of her students read better when they covered a printed page with a colored overlay. This patented method uses color pages of plastic to repair perception problems.

The Listening Program - A Music Based Auditory Stimulation Method

Music based, The Listening Program helps train the brain to improve auditory listening skills, which are needed to effectively listen, learn and communicate. It consists of a series of high-quality audio CDs that combines acoustic music, primarily classical, with sound processing techniques that exercise the brain and its auditory functions. When combined with other treatments, The Listening Program can be an intervention for children suffering from autism. The Listening Program can be used in the home under the guidance of a health or educational provider who has been trained as an authorized provider.