Vision tips
The Lions Club is a service organization that provides services for people with hearing and vision problems. The local chapter’s website lists the following reasons for taking vision screening seriously:› 1 in 10 children is at risk from undiagnosed vision problems.› 1 in 30 children will be affected by amblyopia — often referred to as lazy eye, a leading cause of vision loss in people younger than 45 years.› 1 in 25 will develop strabismus — more commonly known as crossed eyes, a risk factor for amblyopia.› 1 in 33 will show significant error such as near-sightedness, far-sightedness and astigmatism.› 1 in 100 will exhibit evidence of eye disease such as glaucoma.› 1 in 20,000 children have retinoblastoma (eye cancer), the seventh most common pediatric cancer.
The school year just got underway and no doubt you filled out all the required paperwork, bought all the proper school supplies, got all of the proper shots for your child.
But did you have their eyes checked?
In the next few weeks, if you notice your student complaining of headaches at school or if your formerly all-A’s child is suddenly struggling with schoolwork, it could be that he can’t see well or has a tracking problem when reading. She could be skipping words – or even entire sentences – and not even be aware of it.
Parents can look for symptoms such as reversing words when the child is reading to them, or if he seems to tire or lose interest after just a few minutes, such problems could be a vision problem.