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By Dr. Breanne Facey, OD. Your Hamilton Eye Doctor
As a parent, you always strive to help your child achieve to his/her best potential, but often a simple check is overlooked. 80% of learning in the classroom is visual, emphasizing the importance of healthy vision for success at school. Recent studies revealed that approximately 85% of children begin school without an eye examination from an optometrist. Further, ¼ of these children will begin grade one with an undiagnosed vision or eye health problem. Unfortunately, when a child is not seeing well they are unable to perform to their full potential often setting them back from the rest of their peers. In fact, up to 60% of children identified as having learning/reading difficulties actually have vision problems. For example, many of the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder are similar to those of Convergence Insufficiency – an eye co-ordination disorder. Both of these disorders make it difficult for a child to concentrate in class, and decrease reading efficiency. Treatment of convergence insufficiency with vision therapy and eye exercises can improve a child’s ability to complete school-work successfully.
Unfortunately, many children will not complain about vision problems, because they are not aware anything is wrong. Children believe that the world they view is the same as everyone else’s! At a young age, kids can learn to make adaptive changes to compensate for vision difficulties, but often these compensations can have a negative impact as the brain may learn to adapt or suppress visual information from an eye that is blurred or misaligned. Early detection of common vision problems can prevent life-long devastating effects on vision.
Optometrists routinely detect vision problems in children who do not display any obvious symptoms. In fact, many serious eye health problems can exist, even with 20/20 vision. 20/20 is great, but it only means that a child can see at 20 feet what they should be able to. It does not relate to the vision skills needed for learning and is not a guarantee that your child’s eyes are healthy.
There are many signs that parents can look for which may indicate that their child has a vision problem that could be affecting their learning potential. A few of these signs include:
- performing below potential
- avoiding close work, or dislikes reading
- uses finger to maintain place while reading
- holds reading material closer than usual
- turns or tilts head to use one eye
- has frequent headaches.
Eye examinations for children are covered under OHIP once every 12 months until age 19. A thorough eye examination annually with an optometrist includes a comprehensive exam to rule out any ocular disease, tests for vision, lazy eyes, crossed eyes, eye co-ordination, eye focusing ability, eye movement control, depth perception and colour vision. At the end of an exam a treatment plan is discussed which may include glasses, contact lenses, vision therapy or treatment of an eye disease.
An eye exam can give parents the peace of mind knowing whether-or-not their child is working at their full visual potential. There are so many factors which can affect a child’s ability to learn – don’t let vision be one of them. Your child’s eyes deserve a visit with an optometrist!
Visit your Hamilton Optometrist for your child's next eye exam.
