As you prepare your children for the school year by buying school supplies, scheduling vaccinations and sports physicals, do not overlook one of the most important steps in making sure your child has a successful and productive school year ñ a vision evaluation.Eighty percent of our learning comes through our visual system. Thus, difficulty with eye teaming, alignment, focusing or blurry vision can all have a negative impact on a childís academic, social and athletic performance.Vision doesn’t just happen. A child’s brain learns how to use eyes to see, just like it learns how to use legs to walk or a mouth to form words. The longer a vision problem goes undiagnosed and untreated, the more a child’s brain learns to accommodate the vision problem.The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, says that an estimated 300,000 to 750,000 children ages 3 to 5 have amblyopia (lazy eye) and 450,000 to 600,000 have strabismus (eye misalignment). An estimated 1.5 million to 2.3 million children have a significant refractive error (poor vision that can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses).Among the conditions an eye care professional will look for are amblyopia, strabismus, color deficiency (color blindness), accommodative ability (focusing) and refractive errors (nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism).Aside from vision-threatening conditions, vision evaluations for kids are vital because vision changes can occur without a child or parent realizing the change has occurred. If your child is having trouble seeing the blackboard or words in a book, learning as well as participating in recreational activities will suffer.Infants should be screened for common eye problems during regular pediatric appointments, or the parent should take advantage of the InfantSEE Program ñ a National public health program that will provide a free one-time eye examination to children 6 to 12 months of age (see http://InfantSEE.org for more information).Comprehensive vision and eye health evaluations should be conducted for all children beginning around 2 to 3 years of age, again at 5 years of age and every year while the child is in school. If there is a family history of eye problems or if a problem is apparent, do not wait for a vision screening. The parent should take their child for a professional eye examination.Untreated vision problems can lead to difficulties in how your child learns or behaves around others. Below are signs to watch for that could indicate your child is suffering from a vision problem:
- Eyes appear crossed or one seems to be veering in the wrong direction
- Excessive redness and/or tearing of the eyes
- Eyes appear swollen or crusty
- Frequent blinding, squinting or eye rubbing
- Highly sensitive to light
- Complains of tired eyes and/or headaches when reading or working on close-up/near tasks
- Poor reading and/or reading comprehension
- Uses finger to follow along or frequently loses place while reading
- Consistently sits too close to television or holds things close to eyes
- Closes or covers up one eye when trying to see something
- Grades suffer unexplainably
