The Benefit Received from Back-to-School Eye Exams

Imagine trying to learn with blurry vision, eye strain, or headaches. Clear vision is essential for learning, and undiagnosed vision problems can impede a child's education. Many children cannot recognize or express their vision issues because these problems may have always been present or progressed gradually. 

If children can’t see well, they may have difficulty reading, writing and taking part in activities at school, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA).

School-provided vision screenings are tempting due to cost or convenience, but they are limited and can miss up to 75% of children with vision or eye health problems. Even children with 20/20 vision may have undetected eye health issues.

As children progress through their education, they face increasing demands on their visual abilities. The size of print in textbooks gets smaller and the amount of time spent reading increases. To meet these demands, a child should have the vision skills to be an effective learner:

• Visual acuity

• Eye Focusing

• Eye Tracking

• Eye teaming

• Hand-to-eye coordination

• Visual perception

• Recognition

• Comprehension

• Retention

Without a comprehensive eye exam from an Optometrist, many eye and vision disorders go undetected, or worse, a child may be misdiagnosed as having behavior problems, ADHD, dyslexia, or other learning disability. Signs of vision problems that are less obvious to watch for are:

• Difficulty completing tasks.

• Not performing up to their full potential

• Difficulty working alone and following directions.

• Difficulty organizing and prioritizing work and time.

• Heavy reliance on pictures or auditory memorization

• Lack of interest in books or reading

• Disruptive or inattentive in class

Since much of a child's learning is visual, undetected vision problems may cause a child to miss out on a significant part of their education. Without good vision, a child's foundation for future success in school, sports and life in general can be compromised. Due to the lack of public awareness about vision disorders and how they can affect a child’s ability to meet developmental milestones, engage socially, achieve academic success in the future.

Sources:

www.uhc.com

www.visionmonday.com

www.Optometrists.org

www.aoa.org

www.clevelandclinic.org

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