Back to school is a busy and exciting time. It is also the perfect time to schedule your child’s eye exam.
Confusion with Learning Disabilities
Most often, young children cannot tell you when they have a problem with their vision. They don’t understand enough about it to recognize it for what it is. This means that as they go to school, they may encounter many learning or social situations that are difficult or uncomfortable for them that get falsely identified by their teachers or parents as either learning disabilities or behavior dysfunctions, when in fact, it really could just be a vision problem.
Many of the symptoms of ADHD and Dyslexia are similar to those of vision problems. For example, poor reading comprehension, eye exhaustion from reading, short attention span to independent work, poor work completion, and fidgeting or looking away from work are all signs of learning disabilities as well as signs of possible vision problems. A large portion, up to 80%, of learning in schools is done visually. You can imagine the frustration students, teachers, and parents might experience if there is a vision problem impeding the learning process. Oftentimes, the frustration of it will cause students to act out, transferring the issue into a behavior problem. Save everyone the frustration in getting to the bottom of difficulties in school by having your student get their annual eye exam at the beginning of the school year.
Potential Vision Problems at School
Many schools administer the basic visual E-chart acuity test, but this test alone does not account for all of the problems that a students may experience visually. Colorblindness is a common situation that can cause frustration for students and parents at an early stage in the learning process. Students begin learning and identifying colors even before preschool. Depth perception is another visual function that could fluster learning at early ages. Misaligned eyes can cause double vision, headaches, eye strain, and difficulty reading. Ocular motility, or tracking, also makes reading difficult as the brain struggles to process the information attempting to be read. Poor reading comprehension, slow reading speed, and poor reading fluency are all effects of difficulty in visual tracking. Astigmatism, which causes blurred vision, may also make learning an unpleasant experience.
None of these potentional vision problems mentioned above are assessed by the school nurse during the routine school vision screening. Only by having your annual eye exam will you be able to rule out learning disabilities being caused by vision problems. Scheduling that exam at the beginning of the school year will save students, parents, and teachers a lot of time and frustration in best implementing the learning process for your student.
Schedule your exam HERE. We can’t wait to help you get a fantastic start to the new school year!