What Every Parent Should Know

There is a clear link between a child’s ability to see well and his or her ability to learn and succeed in school. Children learn mostly with their eyes.  Reading, writing, blackboard work, computers, playtime and sports are all hard work if you cannot see clearly.  Many everyday tasks for children involve seeing quickly and using visual information.

Parents need to understand the basics of children’s eye health so they can detect problems early and address them before they become serious. Good vision includes seeing well at a distance and also for close work.  Good vision depends on good eye health and good eye function.  Good eye function involves visual integration and visual skills such as using the eyes together, focusing the eyes properly and changing focus appropriately, and moving the eyes when needed.
Visual Acuity
The ability to see clearly at close, middle and far distances. This includes activities at various distances such as reading a book, working on a computer or seeing the blackboard.

Eye health
A healthy eye is one free of diseases, such as strabismus, and amblyopia (lazy eye)which can impair vision or lead to vision loss if not diagnosed and treated early.

Visual skills
All the functions the eyes must be able to perform to process visual information.

Visual skills include:

Eye focusing
The ability of the eyes to focus and shift focus to near and distant points easily

Eye coordination
The ability of the eyes to work properly together.

Eye movement or tracking
The ability to move the eyes together across a page of print, to look directly at an object, to follow a moving object or to jump smoothly from one object to another.

Visual integration
The ability to process and integrate visual information, which includes and coordinates input from our other senses and previous experiences so that we can understand what we see.

Caring for your child’s vision

If a child is having difficulty at school  parents, caregivers or teachers should take steps to find out if a previously undetected visual problem is the underlying cause.

A full an thorough eye examination by your local optometrist is the most effective way of assessing eye health and visual function.

The NZ Association of Optometrists recommends that children have their eyes examined:
  • At 6 to 12 months old
  • At 2 to 3 years of age
  • Before starting school
  • Through their school years as indicated by vision screening or school performance

What to look out for

Parents can look out for the following signs that their child may have a vision problem:
  • Dislike and avoidance of close work
  • Sitting at table with an awkward posture
  • Turning or tilting the head to one side
  • Closing one eye while reading
  • Taking an unusually long time to complete reading comprehension tasks
  • Moving closer to a book, desk or computer screen while reading
  • Excessive blinking or rubbing of eyes
  • Losing place while reading; skipping or re-reading lines or words
  • Using a finger as a place mark when reading; reading unusually slowly
  • Complaints of headache, dizziness and nausea
  • Needing to sit close to the TV or board at school to see clearly
  • Lack of confidence in group sports and activities