Cindy,
Yes, I do have different for driving, but it's not intentional. So for daytime driving I use dark sunglasses that are those huge bug eye type ones that were all the rage with girls for a while. I didn't buy them for style, but because they block all incoming light from my face & they are dark enough to drive with. I'm on my second pair of Irlen Tints, my first pair were quite light & I keep those in the car for night driving. They are enough to help me not be in pain from oncoming lights, but not so dark that I can't see properly.
My current tints are quite dark. People can't see my eyes through them which I always forget when I wonder why people are trying to decide if I'm upset or deep in thoughts.
There is an overlay for ipads, it's the same app available for Macs, but it's quite not free. There's one called Claro View that's $12.95. I thought there was another, but I can't find the name. I don't have an ipad myself so I've not had to worry about it & I don't use my phone for things like that. For a while, though, we did have one of the plastic overlays the Specialist gave us on Morgan's ipad. He ended up taking it off because it got scratched up enough that he found it annoying.
She often gives him 2 sets. One full size & one book size as she knows we homeschool & figures he'll need both.
Morgan can also write fine, but slowly, so long as he has his glasses. He writes quicker if we print things on his special coloured paper. Our specialist will work with the kids both for tints & then for paper colour. One of them needs a blue & one needs a grey. Thankfully I can pick up both shades at the local office supply, in fact we're the reason they keep the funny zelda grey in stock.
I still copy math books, I also copied the workbook that goes along with Cover Story onto blue for Morgan. He also has his study guides {science & history} on blue paper & his spelling book.
His specialist has urged us not to have him reading from a white board or doing copy type work. That it would be wiser for him to type as much as possible in order to build the confidence & stay on track. The boys actually have tinted "white" boards too. One has grey & again the other has blue. These are just small personal ones, I don't make a general habit of using our white board for specific school stuff anymore, but as both still need spelling I will write out the patterns to look for on there once a week.
What I also found helpful for my eldest in getting his thoughts formulated was NOT to have him read things. I know this is SO contradictary to what people tell you. People mean well, & they aren't off for their own children, but the problem for people with VPD is that all their brain power goes into reading their school work & they haven't got much left afterwards for doing the written portion.
Morgan does everything via audio or video course except his assigned book. History is 100% audio, science he listens to audio lectures & takes his own notes. I'm not gonna lie here, I can't read his notes. They make absolutely no sense to me. In order to get them down quickly he might make drawings, half spelled words, whatever. I'm completely lost when I see them laying around, but he can pick them up & each mark on the paper triggers something he wants to share with us. We've put him in Cover Story this year specifically because it's one of the very few writing programmes we can get in an audio/video format. Math is MUS, & sometimes he does the lectures & the works, or sometimes hubby teaches it & then our child does the work. Either way, everything we choose for him to use is geared towards the idea that we want to allow him to work independently, but are aware of his limitations. We're still using pretty well known curriculum we've just found ways to make it work for us.
Unfortunately, Medicare doesn't cover it here. Our former specialist was covered for the visits because she was also a paediatrician & was able to work the system to our benefit. We only had to pay for the lenses, frames, & the $20 "Yank" fee as she calls it. If you don't live in the USA you have to pay a $20 fee that goes directly back to Irlen. Nice, huh? As if the whole process isn't expensive enough.. 
And it IS expensive. 3 of us are in these glasses here too. Hubby just wears regular reading glasses. The same year he got his reading glasses our Jayden ended up needing to be checked for Irlen. Let's just say it was an expensive year for vision care, but it was worth it. Our Specialist doesn't expect all the money up-front. We generally have half of it to give her the day of appointments. She's also incredibly lovely & doesn't charge for my re-checks, only for my lenses. After your first appointment, follow ups are less pricey. I don't know about your specialist, but if you don't need a written report after that first diagnosis that will save money too. For us, we need it because I have to show it to the state each year due to home education.
For us we've found the best thing to do is to save money each month for the incoming cost. If you get a pair of frames you love you can buy a second pair down the road to have on hand too. As your needs change you'll need the tint colours changed too. We go in annually, all though this year we were able to stretch it out longer. That's nothing short of a miracle because this is the longest Morgan has ever gone without needing a check. Keep in mind that hormone washes can cause a tint change to be needed. Morgan is on the tail end of that side of things which may explain why he's been able to go longer.
He was delighted not to need an appointment, but a little bit bummed because he really loves his specialist & he had all sorts of hockey news he wanted to discuss with her.
Her grandson plays for the Kookaburras {yes the pros} & he couldn't wait to discuss the horrific loss they experienced during the Olympics. That boy! Jayde on the other hand is still going through the wash & I found his glasses on the lounge room floor the other day.
He'd slept in there & I went in to rouse him & was shocked to find the lenses on the floor. This kid had a pair break because of this & he's been really good about not doing that sense. Well, apparently he's felt the need to sleep with his glasses on. This boy deals with high anxiety & prior to glasses never ever stopped moving. When Dr T found the right shades for him this kids entire body came to a halt, he exhaled & said, "I feel so calm." Yes, I cried. Anyway, I strongly suspect he'll need a recheck in March when Dr T is back in town if he can make it that long.
I don't know if any private health insurances cover Irlen, I have no experience with private health funds at this stage. Having said that you'd have to compare your outgoing price for the insurance monthly vs what you pay out of pocket annually for the glasses. This is likely something we'll need to be sorting out for ourselves in 2017 or 2018 if our family lands back in the USA.
I know there are a few people who've trained to become Irlen specialists merely to help others. They charge nothing more then the cost of lenses. I know a lady in the UK was really excited to do that as well, but I'm not sure if anyone in the USA is there or not. I think it's an awesome idea because admittedly this is a pretty big deal for kids who can't function without their tints, but like you said it's can be crazy expensive too.
I'll be curious to hear what you learn about the contacts. My boy isn't sure about them & it's not something we've discussed, but I have been thinking about it of late. He has to wear such dark glasses & a hat I've wondered about that for him working & going to school in todays dramas, which made me really consider contacts because he still gets the relief he needs & no one is the wiser..
Kendra, wife of Lawrence, mother of three.
I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.