80% of learning is visual. When was your child's last comprehensive eye exam with a residency-trained pediatric eye doctor?

If your child hasn’t had an eye exam from a residency-trained expert for a while, or has never had one, consider a back to school eye exam. With a back to school eye exam, we can observe, diagnose, and treat vision problems before your child heads back into the classroom. 

A back to school eye exam is important because minor vision problems can affect academic performance.

As children move from one grade level to another, the complexity of the school work, as well as the workload itself, increases. In addition, Computer Vision Syndrome, once considered an “adult” vision problem, now affects children at younger and younger ages due to increased use of online learning. 

In cases of an undiagnosed or uncorrected vision problem, this can lead to lower than expected academic performance, as well as increased stress and frustration for the child, and headaches.

The challenge for parents and teachers is that most children are unaware of a vision problem. 

More than Observation

Vision is deeply entwined with learning, and oftentimes vision problems go undetected, or unobserved, by parents and teachers. That’s because a child has no point of comparison so assumes everyone sees the way they do.

One in five preschoolers have vision  problems, one in four children need corrective lenses by the time they enter school, and 60% of children identified as “problem learners” suffer from undetected vision problems.

Simple vision screenings miss up to 75% of children with vision problems.

For some parents and educators, it is possible to easily observe symptoms of a vision problem:

• Squinting
• Holding reading material close to the face
• Covering one eye while reading
• Turning the head to the side when reading
• Using fingers as a reading guide

Unfortunately, simple observation isn't always enough. There are 17 visual skills required for reading and learning. These skills are not tested in the majority of vision screenings or routine eye exams. That's why we encourage all parents to seek the care of residency-trained pediatric optometrists for their children.

As residency trained pediatric optometrists we see kids all day everyday – which means we talk with a lot of parents. Parents are often surprised if a vision problem is identified during the exam. These parents have “done the right thing” - taken their child to the pediatrician for regular check-ups since birth, and some have even had eye exams with the family eye doctor. 

We see the look of confusion on their faces, and then comes the question “how is this possible?”

It is possible because most eye doctors aren't trained in pediatric vision care – meaning they don't have residency training or clinical experience specific to the pediatric population. Without proper training it is easy to either overlook or even misdiagnose common pediatric vision conditions.

Vision, Learning, and Development

Healthy vision is critical to a child's learning and development. Our pediatric eye doctors understand that helping kids see well is part of helping them reach their full potential.

It is not uncommon for children to have their distance vision checked by the pediatrician or at a school vision screening. Unfortunately vision screenings provide less than 4% of the testing and information as compared to comprehensive pediatric eye exams.

Schedule Your Back to School Eye Exam Now

Our eye doctors are residency-trained in pediatric vision care, and each has a decade of clinical experience in pediatrics - uniquely qualifying them to care for even the most complex cases.

Kids aren't just small adults. Kids have vision conditions specific to the pediatric population. Kids require age appropriate eye exams. Kids need an eye doctor who is well versed in the latest treatments available, with first-hand experience discussing options with parents.

If your child has not yet had their yearly comprehensive eye health exam with a residency-trained pediatric eye doctor, give us a call.

Our pediatric eye doctors are in-network with most insurances, accepting new patients, and no referral is necessary.