It is particularly important for school aged children to have eye exams before entering the school system as they may not "know" that they are not seeing everything the same as others. This was a revelation for me as I watched Sarah's Story a video that demonstrates the importance of getting your child's eyes checked early.
The Ontario Association of Optometrists recognizes the important link between eye health and learning, and recommends comprehensive eye examinations for all children entering kindergarten. The Eye See...Eye Learn program will help make sure our kindergarten students get the best start to learning.
Read below to find out the solution offered by the OAO.
Problem
·
Each year, fewer than 10 per cent of children
have an eye exam before entering school, despite the fact that 25 per cent of
all children have a vision problem significant enough to impair their ability
to learn.[i] Eye
exams can also detect asymptomatic, but potentially life-threatening, eye
conditions.
o
Approximately
60 per cent of children with literacy problems have an undiagnosed vision
problem[iii]
o
80
per cent of all learning is visual,[iv]
so children who cannot see the board or focus on a picture or follow words in a
book may struggle to achieve their full learning potential
o
Vision
problems can impact a child’s hand-eye coordination for physical activities and
even their social development
Solution:
·
To ensure
Ontarians understand the importance of comprehensive eye examinations for
children, the Ontario Association of Optometrists (OAO) has launched a video
called Sarah’s Story and expanded the Eye See…Eye Learn program.
o
The Eye See…Eye Learn® program allows children
entering Junior Kindergarten
to receive a comprehensive eye examination, provided by a Doctor of Optometry
o
If
the child requires a pair of glasses, they will receive them free of charge
through the program
o
The
eye exams for children are covered under provincial health insurance (or OHIP)
when you show the child’s health card, meaning that there is no out-of-pocket
cost for the eye exam
o
Comprehensive
eye examinations enable Doctors of Optometry to diagnose and treat children
with eye health and vision problems before they begin grade one
· Doctors of Optometry, in comparison to opticians, are able to test and diagnose eye disease through an oculo-visual assessment[v]
·
OAO’s
video, Sarah’s Story, highlights the value that regular eye examinations by a
Doctor of Optometry can provide for children with undiagnosed vision and
health-related problems
Vision
·
OAO encourages all parents across the province to
ensure their children’s eyes are examined by a Doctor of Optometry at 6 months
of age, three years of age and then every 12 months after that (or as
recommended by an optometrist). Parents in participating regions are encouraged
to book their children for their Eye See…Eye Learn® exam.
o
Data
from nine participating regions show that for nearly 81 per cent of the
children participating in the ESEL program, the ESEL eye exam is the child’s
first eye exam
o
On
average, 12 per cent of children that are receiving their first eye exam
through participation in the ESEL program are prescribed glasses
§ In some regions
this number is as high as 16 per cent
