The Connection Between Your Child’s Vision and Their Education

October is Children’s Vision Month, and Alberta teachers and doctors of optometry are encouraging parents to get their children’s eyes checked. How well a child performs in school is directly linked to how well they see. Yet, a recent survey commissioned by the Alberta Association of Optometrists (AAO) revealed that only 61% of Albertans know that school-age children should have annual eye exams.
“That is a troubling statistic. Many problems that are caused by poor eyesight can be completely avoided,” says Chestermere optometrist, Dr. Steven Hoang. “During a comprehensive eye exam, we often find vision or eye health concerns that parents, and even the children themselves, didn’t know existed.”
When a child is having vision problems, everything is more difficult – reading, seeing the board and even playing sports. The problem is, most children don’t recognize that they are having a hard time seeing – they assume everyone sees the way they do. The undetected problem may continue to get worse, resulting in stress, frustration, and sometimes, serious behavioural issues.
“It’s absolutely incredible to see the changes for a student when they have a vision problem corrected,” says Mark Ramsankar, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association. “Some students don’t realise or can’t say that there’s an issue with their sight and sometimes we can fix reading or behaviour issues just by correcting a vision problem. It all starts with regular testing.”
Many schools and family physicians offer vision screening programs, which will reveal whether a child has 20/20 vision. Studies show that vision screening has high error rates. In fact, 43 per cent of children with vision problems pass a vision screening. Dr. Hoang says comprehensive eye exams go much further.
“While a 20/20 vision score is great, it does not mean that your child has all of the vision skills required for optimal learning and development,” says Dr. Hoang. “Your optometrist can do a lot more than determine if a child sees well. We diagnose, treat and prevent diseases and disorders affecting the eyes and visual systems.”
Alberta Health Care covers the cost of annual eye exams for children until they turn 19. Regular checkups are important, because a child’s vision and eye health will likely change as they grow and develop. Optometrists recommend children have their first comprehensive eye exam between the ages of six and nine months, their second between the ages of two and five, and one every year after that.
For more information, and to find a doctor of optometry near you, visit www.optometrists.ab.ca.