What type of vision is needed for children to be successful in school?? It’s the time of the year when parents prepare for their children to go back to school after a fun filled summer. Most parents have a checklist of what their child needs to have done before the first day of school. The main thing on everyone’s check list is to get their child a routine physical examination. This is to ensure the child had no physical limitations in school, and to make sure their overall health is good. Rarely do parents take their children to get a vision evaluation before school unless it is mandatory for attendance or the child is specifically complaining.
Vision Screenings are Not Enough
Usually if your child’s pediatrician has done a visual screening in their office and your child can read the smallest line on their chart, the doctor will tell you that your child’s vision is normal and that they do not need glasses. What most parents do not realized is that it is more to your vision than the clarity of what a person sees and how small of a letter a person can read at a certain distance. Taking a visual acuity is just a snapshot of how vision works, but vision is a dynamic process that constantly changes and moves with different environments. To learn more about specific skills, check out our posts about pediatric services or why vision screenings are not enough.
A great book for all parents to read is called “When Your Child Struggles: The Myth of 20/20 Vision (What every parent needs to Know)” by Dr. David Cook. This book explains and gives great examples of children that struggled in school, but their parents were told by their child’s doctor that their child’s vision was good and not the problem and that they did not need glasses. These parents could not figure out why their children were having such a hard time in school until they took them to get a functional vision exam.
Functional Vision Exam versus Regular Eye Exam
There is also a difference of getting a vision exam versus getting a functional vision exam. Many eye doctors do a good job of determining the child acuity, whether prescription glasses are needed, and evaluating the health of the eyes. However, a functional vision exam goes one step further. Extensive testing is used to evaluate the consistency, flexibility, and stamina of a child’s accommodation system (focusing system), eye teaming abilities, eye movement’s abilities, visual perception skills, and eye-hand coordination.
To find a doctor who specializes in this type of assessment, check out the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (www.COVD.org). Many of these doctors consider themselves as behavioral optometrists, because vision frequently influences a child’s behavior. Children sometimes become disruptive or withdrawn when they have a hard time keeping their vision stable. Poor vision can be the reason behind homework battles. The COVD website is a wonderful resource on topics such as the impact of vision on learning, vision therapy, and brain injury recovery from sport-related concussions.
Barriers to Learning
Children are natural born learners. If your child does not like to learn or read, ask yourself why – what is making it so hard for the child such that she or he will shy away from the task? It can be a learning disability or many reasons, but do consider ruling out easy aspects, such as vision, first. If your child is having a hard time in school, or does not want to learn or read a book, get a functional vision assessment completed. Parents it is as simple as going to get your child a physical for school, but it is for the eyes. If functional vision problems are found, children can improve on these skills through vision therapy. Make sure vision is not the reason that is holding back your child from reaching her or his full potential at school.
This was a guest post by our Tech Linda whose little boy just entered kindergarten this year.