Care for Your Eyes Well to Preserve Your Good Vision

School-Age Children And Eye Exams: What You Need To Know

17 August 2017 by Ben Richardson

School is starting back up again, which makes for the perfect time to get your kids into the eye doctor for an eye exam. Did you know that research suggests that 10 percent of kids in preschool have vision issues that are so bad that they affect their learning ability? Did you also know that the problems that kids (and even adults) have to deal with are not limited to being farsighted or nearsighted? Colorblindness, astigmatism, issues with the retina and other vision problems can begin to develop at a young age, but they won't be known if you don't take your children to an optometrist. Read on to learn more about your children in school, the importance of eye health and eye exams, and what you can do.

Undetected Vision Issues Can Lead a Child Down a Destructive Path

Children learn through their eyes, so it is imperative that they have good vision. When children are dealing with undetected and untreated vision conditions, it can have a devastating effect on their learning ability, overall education and even confidence levels. Children have a hard time explaining what is wrong, but they know that they are finding it difficult to read or it hurts to focus on something and they get in trouble when they don't do it. This can often lead to socialization and behavior problems.

Know What Symptoms to Look for

Young children are dealing with vision-related problems don't often inform an adult, such as a parent or a teacher, because they don't realize they have a problem. Alternatively, some know they have a problem, but they don't know what is causing or how to explain it. Therefore, it is important for parents, teachers and other adults to know what symptoms and signs to keep an eye out for. Some of these include the following:

• Poor reading comprehension
• Slower at finishing homework and schoolwork
• Frequent headaches
• Frequent blinking/eye rubbing
• Tendency to look away from their work
• Often covering one eye or the other
• Short attention span for close-up schoolwork

Keep in mind that these symptoms are very similar to those of ADHD as well as dyslexia, and this is because that children with these symptoms are often diagnosed with those disorders. However, sometimes, they are misdiagnosed and actually have a vision problem instead.

Children Need Comprehensive Eye Exams

As a general rule, school-age children will go see the nurse every year for a vision screening. However, these are very different than the eye exams that they will receive if they go to an optometrist. A professional eye doctor performs a comprehensive exam that includes the standard eye chart that the school nurse uses in addition to color blindness test, depth perception, eye alignment test, and more.

So, with all of this being said, before your child goes back to school, contact a local optometrist, such as at Olympia Eye Clinic, Inc., P.S., and schedule your child for a comprehensive eye exam to ensure that his or her eye health is on track. 

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