Child’s Vision Problems And School
How important is it that your kids receive an eye exam prior to the start of the school year? Consider these facts:
- Vision problems affect one in twenty pre-schoolers and one in four school-age children. If left untreated the problems can worsen and lead to other serious problems as well as affect learning ability, personality and adjustment in school
- As many as 60 percent of children who are identified as ‘problem learners’ have undetected vision problems
- It is estimated that 80 percent of learning comes from vision, yet only 14 percent of school-aged children start the school year with an eye exam
Consider also that outward appearances are often deceiving when determining if an eye or vision problem exists. Our doctors often hear the statement that “my son/daughter sees fine, they can see for miles!”. This actually tells us very little about the visual performance of the child, and parents are often surprised when we find evidence of a lazy eye, focusing problem or eye health problem.
A critical test that is performed during all comprehensive eye exams is an evaluation of the health of the retina. Although many parents believe that their children are not at risk for eye health conditions, many young children do develop problems that can affect their ability to learn or concentrate, or may even be sight threatening if left undetected.
At Mountain View Optometry we have the most advanced method of evaluating the health of the retina – the optomap® Retinal Exam. This instrument quickly and easily takes a widefield scan of the retina which our doctors then evaluate on the computer screen in the exam room. This is done without the need for pupil dilating drops in most cases, and is ideally suited for children.