Children's Vision

Parent's Corner

A guide to your baby's eyes

Welcome to parenthood: VISION 101 for PARENTS

Your baby’s vision skills have already taken great strides. Tracking moving objects and beginning to reach for things, these are all baby steps that lead toward eye-hand coordination and depth perception.

Mother Nature knew what she was doing when she made a baby’s initial focusing distance 20 - 30 cm., after all, it’s the distance from the crook of your arm (your baby’s favourite place to be!) to your eyes. To encourage healthy vision skills, keep “reach and touch” toys within your child’s focusing distance, alternate right and left sides with each feeding and talk to your baby as you walk around the room. Frequently change the crib position and your child’s position in it and hang a visually stimulating mobile (black and white is a proven favourite) above their crib or change table.

From birth to about age 5 your baby will make sophisticated leaps in vision that are very much like the leaps they’ll make in crawling, walking and talking. During the first five years your child will learn lifelong vision skills – accurately or inaccurately. It’s the development of these skills that lays the foundation for one of their most precious gifts – their vision.

With every examination, your optometrist will determine if your child’s eyes are healthy and working together efficiently.

When should I bring my child for their first eye exam?

Mark it on your calendar. 6 months old - your baby’s first visit to their optometrist!

Don’t worry, there’s no need to have your baby study for this test! They won’t have to read the eye chart in order for an accurate and complete eye examination to be performed. In fact, your optometrist will test for excessive or unequal amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism; eye movement ability; as well as eye health problems, all in a way that will make you and your baby comfortable and at ease.

There are a few ways to make this first visit most enjoyable:

Work around fussy times. You know your baby best; schedule your appointment at a time when baby is generally relaxed and happy.
Ask to have any required paperwork sent to you before the appointment so that it can be filled out at home and brought in on the day of the exam.
Pat yourself on the back for knowing how vital this first eye exam is and for getting yourself out the door to make it there on time!

From six to twelve months

Your child will be quite mobile (and you’ll likely be much more tired!) Your child is now developing the vision skills necessary to use both eyes together, to judge distances and manipulate their surroundings with greater accuracy. Their play is really their work!

To encourage the development of eye-hand-foot-body coordination, try not to encourage early walking. Crawling and exploring are what they need to be doing right now. Offer toys your baby can touch, hold and see at the same time.

From their first birthday to their third birthday

During this stage eye-hand coordination and depth perception will continue to develop. Learning to see efficiently and effectively requires full coordination between your child’s two eyes. Active playing and normal toddler games all help develop and strengthen your child’s vision. By the age of three, many of the vision skills required for life-long learning are reasonably developed.

By three years of age

Your child should have their second thorough eye examination. Your optometrist will reassess your child’s visual system to confirm the absence of any eye disease, as well as monitor the continued growth and efficiency of their visual skill development. This is also the examination where eye muscle problems such as crossed-eyes (strabismus) and lazy eye (amblyopia) are carefully assessed.

An eye condition described in everyday language

Amblyopia, or lazy eye, is the loss or lack of development of vision in an eye that is healthy. The lack or loss of vision is not due to an eye health problem. Amblyopia can be caused by strabismus (crossed-eyes), unequal refractive error, farsightedness or nearsightedness, or a physical obstruction like a cataract. The brain “learns” to see with the good eye only and the other eye grows weaker from disuse. It is estimated that 2 - 4% of all children have amblyopia. Amblyopia is responsible for more cases of vision loss in our children than all other ocular diseases and traumas combined.

To find out more information about Amblyopia, click here.

The best news is that with early detection and treatment, many vision problems are REVERSIBLE and in some cases PREVENTABLE!

Between THREE YEARS and FIVE YEARS of age

Through these important years your child’s eyes will gain all the necessary vision skills needed to be ready for reading!

Your child should visit the optometrist before their first day of school. With the test results of the previous two eye examinations (six months and three years of age) your optometrist can assess how well your child's vision is continuing to develop. This is an important appointment because it assures you that your child’s eyes are ready for their next big challenge – school.

YOU’VE COMPLETED VISION 101 FOR PARENTS. CONGRATULATIONS!

There isn’t a time in a parent’s life when we aren’t the guardians of our children’s vision. It’s a big job, and an important one too. Enjoy marveling at those baby blues, greens, browns and hazels and watch them grow right before your very eyes!

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A guide to school age vision

Good vision equals a head start on learning

Ask parents what their top priorities are for their children and you are bound to hear one answer consistently. That answer? A good education. That means a good school, a great teacher and good vision. Yes, good vision!

Did You Know? Classroom learning is 80% visual, which points clearly to the idea that if a student isn’t seeing well, they’re not performing up to their potential. Right now almost 25% of children have undetected vision problems that are holding them back. Don’t take the fact that your child can see every bird in the sky as reassurance that their vision skills are adequately developed – it could be an assumption that affects how well they are able to learn. Maturing and changing eyes need to be assessed.

Good news it’s easy to make sure your child is seeing efficiently and clearly. The first step in ensuring your child has all the vision skills they need is to see an optometrist for a thorough (and painless) eye health examination. It’s vital that your child has the basic vision skills – these include, in both technical terms and parent speak:

Near Vision, or the ability to see clearly and comfortably at 25 - 30 cms
Distance Vision, or the ability to see well beyond arm’s reach
Binocular Coordination, or the ability of the eyes to work together
Eye Movement Skills, which enable the eyes to aim accurately, move smoothly across a page and shift quickly from one object to another
Focusing Skills, which enable both eyes to accurately focus at the proper distance and to see clearly and to change focus quickly (example, from desk to chalkboard and back)
Peripheral Awareness, or the ability to be aware of things located to the side while looking straight ahead
Eye/Hand Coordination, or the ability to use the eyes and hands together

If any of these skills are lacking your child will try to compensate by working harder, and may get frustrated and suffer headaches, fatigue and other eye strain symptoms.

20/20? Nice, but it doesn’t mean perfect vision

Don’t assume your child has good vision because they pass a vision screening with 20/20. A 20/20 score means only that a child can see at 20 feet what they should be able to. It does not relate to any of the other vision skills needed for learning and is not a guarantee that your child’s eyes are healthy and disease free. Visual screenings are not a substitute for a thorough eye examination by an optometrist.

Be alert for symptoms

Children rarely complain of vision problems, or are even aware of them. Indeed, they may appear to see perfectly well, often pointing things out to you before you see them, but don’t get lulled into thinking everything is okay. In addition to a regular eye health check-up, look for everyday signs that your child may need help:

performs below their school potential
avoids close work or dislikes reading
loses his or her place while reading
omits or confuses small words when reading
uses finger to maintain place while reading
makes frequent reversals when reading or writing
holds reading material closer than usual
turns or tilts head to use only one eye
has red, itchy or watery eyes
has frequent headaches

What’s the difference between a sight test and a thorough eye exam?

A sight test simply determines what your child can see at a fixed distance. An optometrist on the other hand examines all developing vision skills (the ones essential for optimum school success) and eye health. A thorough eye examination includes:

a review of your child’s health and vision history
a comprehensive, painless and non-invasive eye health examination to rule out any ocular disease
tests for visual acuity, refractive errors, nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, lazy eye, crossed-eyes, eye coordination, focusing ability, eye movement control, depthperception and colour vision
a suggested treatment plan where needed

If your child’s eyes need help

After assessing your child’s visual system, your optometrist will recommend a treatment plan that may include glasses, contact lenses, vision therapy or medications. In some cases, preventative measures will be recommended to meet visual demands and prevent eyestrain (such as wearing mild prescription glasses for schoolwork, television viewing, or computer use).

Homework, computers and television

Your child’s eyes get a workout at home with computers, video games and homework. Make sure the rooms they work in are eye-friendly by reducing glare and offering soft overall lighting. Encourage periodic breaks from computer and video screens to give their eyes a much-needed break. Balance computer timewith plenty of creative, outdoor and quiet play – their eyes and their growing bodies will thank you.

Remember – ensure your child sees an optometrist regularly!

Your child deserves to have all the vision skills they need to read, learn and play successfully. The only way you can be certain they have these skills is to see an optometrist annually. There is no substitute for a thorough eye exam just as there is no substitute for the precious gift that is your child’s vision. There’s no doubt – Your Child’s Eyes Deserve an Optometrist.

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