Reading is an essential part of your child’s education. In fact, more than 80 percent of learning is achieved through the use of the eyes. Unfortunately, children will rarely tell you if they have a vision problem. It’s up to the parents to watch for signs and symptoms of vision or learning problems.

Many parents depend on school screenings that test for 20/20, or teachers to notice these problems. However, even children with 20/20 vision can have vision problems. 20/20 is merely the ability to see clearly, while vision includes receiving, processing, and integration of information from visual and other senses. Vision allows for understanding and responding to what the eyes gather. As many as 15 percent of school children lack these visual skills and have visual processing problems.

 
If your child isn’t working up to his or her ability in school, a vision problem could be the cause. Problems with sight or 20/20 can be helped with glasses or contacts. A thorough children’s vision exam should also include tests for focusing, eye muscle movements, and binocularity.

Symptoms can include losing place while reading, omitting words, blur and discomfort, avoidance of near-work, short attention span, covering one eye or double vision, eye-rubbing and excessive blinking, and headaches. Vision therapy has long been the treatment of choice for these visual skills problems.

 
At what age should my child have their first eye exam?  Public health experts recommend that Children visit an eye care professional in the first year of life - one of the most critical stages of visual developement.  In an effort to encourage infant eye and vision assesments, the American Optometric Association has created a no-cost health program called InfantSEE.  Through this program, our doctors will provide a one-time, comprehensive eye assessment to infants from ages 6 to 12 months at no cost, regardless of income. 

During the assessment, our doctors will test vision, will look for unequal amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism and will check to see that the eyes are straight and working together as a team.  The health of your baby's eyes will also be assessed.  Although serious problems are not common, it is important to identify risk factors at this stage.

The doctors at Milpitas Optometric Group are dedicated to protecting the vision of all children.  Please ask our office for information on a free InfantSEE screening today, because identifying problems early can prevent future learning difficulties later in school!  

Signs of vision information processing skills problems in school age children:

• Slow task completion
• Poor concentration and/or attention span
• Poor comprehension
• Poor memory
• Avoidance of close- work
• Letter and word reversals
• Avoidance of complex tasks
• Impulsiveness; unplanned, inadequate exploratory skills
• Loss of place while reading
• Reduced visual sensory and cognitive skills