| Now is an excellent time to have your child's vision | | | | the same amount of time studying the anatomy, |
| checked. Don't be too quick to say, "My child's vision | | | | functions, and diseases of the eye as an optometrist |
| is fine: 20/20!" In many cases that is not enough.The | | | | has spent studying vision alone. To check my child's |
| Snellen chart, the instrument most frequently used to | | | | vision I would seek an optometrist, specifically a |
| test eyesight, often gives people a false sense of | | | | "developmental" or "behavioral" optometrist. Not only |
| security about their vision. It measures only acuity -- | | | | will the vision exam be more thorough, but the |
| and that at a distance of 20 feet. How much does | | | | developmental optometrist may prescribe a course |
| your child read at that distance?The National Center | | | | of "vision therapy" to remedy problems.Often we |
| for Health Statistics estimates that about 25 percent | | | | take vision for granted and do not think of it as a |
| of children enter school with vision problems that can | | | | learned behavior. Because it is learned, however, |
| impede their school progress. Almost 50 percent of | | | | through practice we can improve it. Experts |
| children with learning difficulties have vision problems, | | | | speculate that the frequency of vision problems may |
| and up to 94 percent of children with reading | | | | be increasing because with television, video games, |
| problems have reduced visual skills.Why does the | | | | and computers, children today do not use their eyes |
| Snellen chart leave some of these problems | | | | in as many different ways as children did formerly; |
| undetected? Vision involves much more than the | | | | overall the vision of children entering school is less |
| sharpness of an image. It involves focusing -- and | | | | developed than it was a few decades ago.What |
| refocusing as attention shifts between far and near | | | | symptoms might indicate a vision problem? Any time |
| (as when copying from the board). It involves | | | | a bright person struggles with reading, further |
| binocularity, the two eyes working together to | | | | investigation is warranted. Consider these specific |
| capture accurate pictures of our world and of the | | | | questions in relation to yourself as well as in relation |
| printed page. Vision also involves perception, the | | | | to your children or students. Answering yes to even |
| brain's interpretation of the images taken in by the | | | | a few of the questions justifies further examination. |
| eyes.Many people believe that vision should be | | | | Do not discount a "yes" even if it is limited to special |
| checked by an ophthalmologist, the person with the | | | | circumstances, such as fatigue.Do you (or does the |
| highest credentials. While it is true that an | | | | child) . . . |
| ophthalmologist is an M.D., he or she has spent about | | | | |