Are your child’s eyes school ready?

Parents, add a comprehensive eye exam to your back-to-school list! Vision accounts for 80% of a child’s learning, so the health of your child’s eyes is imperative for their school success. Michele Schlagheck, OD, ProMedica Physicians Vision Associates – Toledo, shares why it’s so important for your child to receive a yearly comprehensive eye exam.

“Even if your child passed a vision screening at their primary care provider or school this year, a comprehensive eye exam should still be performed,” Dr. Schlagheck shares. “A child may have an eye health problem that cannot be detected by a simple vision screening. For example, eye screenings do not detect reading disorders or conditions that would cause problems using computers.”

What To Expect at Your Child’s Comprehensive Eye Exam

At a comprehensive eye exam, a variety of tests will be performed to evaluate your child’s eye health. Conditions and abnormalities that the optometrist is checking for include:

• Near/far-sightedness.
• Peripheral vision.
• Astigmatism.
• Eye muscle coordination.
• Depth perception.
• Color vision.
• Focusing ability.
• Eyelid/tear duct abnormalities.
• Retinal health.
• Intraocular pressure (the fluid pressure of the eye).

You should expect the optometrist to use dilating drops to perform these tests, especially at your child’s first comprehensive eye exam. When your child’s eyes are dilated, their eye doctor can peer into the peripheral part of their retina. This allows them to check for eye abnormalities and notice conditions that could be from a congenital or inherited disorder.

Tell-Tale Signs of an Eye Problem

Although a comprehensive eye exam is necessary to fully evaluate the health of a child’s eyes, there are several signs that can alert parents of an eye health issue, including:

• Frequent headaches.
• Frequent eye rubbing or blinking.
• Eye discomfort or fatigue.
• A short attention span.
• Head tilting.
• Avoiding reading or frequently losing their place while reading.
• Poor reading comprehension.
• Eye turning in or out.
• Covering or closing one eye.
• Seeing double.

Additionally, if you think your child may have a learning disability, communicate with their teacher and see if they notice any of the above symptoms happening in the classroom. “Often, parents or teachers may think that a child has a learning disability when it is really a visual problem,” shares Dr. Schlagheck. “Anytime that a learning disability is suspected, a comprehensive eye exam should be completed to rule out any other possibilities.”

Even if your child isn’t displaying any symptoms of an eye problem, they should still receive a yearly comprehensive eye exam.