When students have difficulty with their vision, they will often avoid work that requires them to focus or keep their eyes on a page. They might appear to be lazy or distracted, or they may act out—many of the same symptoms that point to Attention Deficit Disorders. Not surprisingly, countless students with vision problems are incorrectly diagnosed every year as having ADD, according to optometrists who specialize in treating children.

Seeing Means Learning
Every day children must tackle reading, spelling, writing, and chalkboard and computer work, all tasks which require the ability to see something and process it quickly. In fact, experts estimate that 80% of all learning during a child’s first 12 years is obtained through vision, yet, it is estimated that one of every four students in grades K through 6 have vision deficiencies.

A child with impaired vision skills must work harder in school, which can lead to headaches, fatigue, and other eyestrain problems, as well as stress and difficulty learning. In addition, undetected vision problems can also negatively affect a child’s self-esteem and contribute to the development of behavioral problems. With these facts in mind, it is not surprising that an estimated 60% of students identified as problem learners have undetected vision problems.

Most parents will notice obvious vision problem indicators such as squinting, sitting too close to the TV, avoiding reading, using a finger to maintain their place when reading, or frequent eye rubbing, but parents often miss more subtle symptoms that still have serious consequences.

Screening vs. Diagnosis
The good news is that most problems detected at an early age are correctable, but without early detection and treatment, a visual defect may become permanent. Since parents cannot know what their children see, and children don’t know what they should be seeing, many problems go undetected. A child lacking binocular coordination (the ability to use both eyes together) won’t complain because he has no way of knowing that his eyes should be tracking things differently.

While school vision screenings are greatly beneficial, they are not comprehensive and only detect gross visual problems that indicate the need for further examination. Basic vision skills needed to perform well in school, including eye movement skills, focusing skills, peripheral awareness, binocular coordination and eye/hand coordination, are not diagnosed or treated during school screenings. In fact, nine out of ten of the 50-million school-age children in the U.S. today don’t receive eye examinations that are crucial to detecting problems, many of which have no apparent symptoms.

By making sure children receive comprehensive optometric eye examinations before they go back to school, parents can help ensure underlying vision problems are accurately detected and corrected. Proper diagnosis and treatment relieves kids’ suffering; it allows them to participate fully in sports, academics and extra-curricular activities, and increasing their self-confidence as they begin to realize their full potential.

Look Online
For a list of local optometrists in the California Optometric Association, go to www.eyehelp.org and click on the “Find an Eye Doc” link. To learn more about children’s eye health, get access to no-cost care, or locate a pediatric ophthalmologist near you, you can also visit www.eyecareamerica.org.

The California Optometric Association is California’s oldest recognized community for optometrists, dedicated to assuring the highest quality of health care for the public through the advancement of optometry. For more information, log onto www.coavision.org.