Children with uncorrected vision conditions or eye health problems may face many barriers in life, academically, socially, and athletically. High-quality eye care can break down these barriers and help enable your children to reach their highest potentia.! As a parent, make sure you are giving your children the eye care they need. The guidelines presented below are recommendations from the American Optometric Association.

Infant Vision

Your baby has a whole lifetime to see and learn. But did you know your baby also has to learn to see? As a parent, there are many things that you can do to help your baby’s vision develop.

When your baby is about six months, you should take him to your doctor of optometry for his first thorough eye examination. Things that the optometrist will test for include excessive or unequal amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, lack of eye movement ability, as well as other eye health problems. These problems are not common, but it is important to identify children who have them at this stage. Vision development and eye health problems can be more easily corrected if treatment is begun early.

At Bartlett Vision we provide comprehensive eye care to children and adults of all ages. Even at six months old a baby should have a thorough examination, not just a screening. We evaluate for refractive error and ocularmotor imbalance, as discussed above, but we also include a dilated examination of the retina to ensure that there are no developmental or health related eye issues that could inhibit vision development.

Unless you notice a need, or your doctor of optometry advises you otherwise, your child’s next eye exam should be around age three, and then again before he or she enters school.

During the first four months of life, your baby should begin to follow moving objects with the eyes and to reach for things, first by chance and later more accurately, as hand-eye coordination and depth perception begin to develop.

To help, change your baby’s position to encourage them to visualize the world in different ways Keep reach-and-touch toys within your baby’s focus, about eight to twelve inches from his eyes; talk to your baby as you walk around the room; alternate right and left sides with each feeding; and hang a mobile above and outside the crib.

Between four and eight months, your baby should begin to turn from side to side and use his or her arms and legs. Eye movement and eye/body coordination skills should develop further and both eyes should focus equally.

Enable your baby to explore different shapes and textures with his or her fingers; give your baby the freedom to crawl and explore; hang objects across the crib; and play “patty cake” and “peek-a-boo” with your baby. Babies see objects with high contrast most easily. Black on white, for example, provides good attention-grabbing visual stimulation for baby.

From eight to twelve months, your baby should become mobile, crawling and pulling himself or herself up. He or she will begin to use both eyes together to judge distances and grasp and throw objects with greater precision. To support development do not encourage early walking – crawling is important in developing eye-hand-foot-body coordination; give your baby stacking and take-apart toys; and provide objects your baby can touch, hold and see at the same time.

From one to two years, your child’s eye-hand coordination and depth perception will continue to develop and he or she will begin to understand abstract terms. Things you can do are to encourage walking; to provide building blocks, simple puzzles and balls; and to provide opportunities to climb and explore indoors and out.

There are many other affectionate and loving ways in which you can aid your baby’s vision development. Use your creativity and imagination. Ask your doctor of optometry to suggest other specific activities.

Pre-School Vision

During the infant and toddler years, your child has been developing many vision skills and has been learning how to see. In the preschool years, this process continues, as your child develops visually guided eye-hand-body coordination, fine motor skills, and the visual motor skills necessary to learn to read.

As a parent, you should watch for signs that may indicate a vision development problem, including a short attention span for the child’s age; difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination in ball play and bike riding; avoidance of coloring and puzzles and other detailed activities.

There are everyday things that you can do at home to help your preschooler’s vision develop as it should.

These activities include reading aloud to your child and letting him or her see what you are reading; providing a chalkboard, finger paints and different shaped blocks and showing your child how to use them in imaginative play; providing safe opportunities to use playground equipment such as a jungle gym and balance beam; and allowing time for interacting with other children and for playing independently.

By age three, your child should have a thorough optometric eye examination to make sure your preschooler’s vision is developing properly and there is no evidence of eye disease. If needed, your doctor can prescribe treatment including glasses and/or vision therapy to correct a vision development problem.

Here are several tips to make your child’s optometric examination a positive experience:

1. Make an appointment early in the day. Allow about 1 to 1.5 hours for the exam.
2. Talk about the examination in advance and encourage your child’s questions.
3. Explain the examination in your child’s terms; tell your child about the doctor and helpers she/he is going to meet, the pictures and letters she/he will see and the instruments or “tiny flashlights” that the doctor will use to look at the eyes.

Unless recommended otherwise, your child’s next eye examination should be before kindergarten. The State of Illinois requires that all children have a comprehensive eye exam, in an optometrist or ophthalomolgy office within the year before they begin kindergarten.

School-Age Vision

A good education for your child means good schools, good teachers and good vision. Your child’s eyes are constantly in use in the classroom and at play. So when his or her vision is not functioning properly, learning and participation in recreational activities will suffer.

The basic vision skills needed for school use are:

• Near Vision. The ability to see clearly and comfortably at 10-13 inches.
• Distance Vision. The ability to see clearly and comfortably beyond arm’s reach.
• Binocular coordination. The ability to use both eyes together.
• Eye movement skills. The ability to aim the eyes accurately, move them smoothly across a page and shift them quickly and accurately from one object to another.
• Focusing skills. The ability to keep both eyes accurately focused at the proper distance to see clearly and the ability to change focus quickly.
• Peripheral awareness. The ability to be aware of things located to the side while looking straight ahead.
• Eye/hand coordination. The ability to use the eyes and hands together.

If any of these or other vision skills is lacking or does not function properly, your child will have to work harder. This can lead to headaches, fatigue, and other eyestrain problems. Sometimes a child will avoid reading or nearwork because it is “too hard”, but the child will have difficulty verbalizing the difficulty he or she is having. As a parent, be alert for symptoms that may indicate your child has a vision or visual processing problem. Be sure to tell your optometrist if you notice the following issues that could indicate a concern:

• Loses his place while reading
• Avoids close work
• Holds reading material closer than normal
• Tends to rub his eyes
• Has headaches
• Turns or tilts head to use one eye only
• Makes frequent reversals when reading or writing
• Uses finger to maintain place when reading
• Omits or confuses small words when reading
• Consistently performs below potential

Since vision changes can occur without you or your child noticing them, we recommend brining your child in for a comprehensive eye examination annually or more frequently if specific problems or risk factors exist. If needed, the doctor can prescribe treatment including eyeglasses, contact lenses, or vision therapy.

Remember, a school vision screening or reading the eye chart in the pediatrician’s office is not a substitute for a thorough eye examination.

Protective Eyewear

Please do not overlook the importance of safety eyewear when playing sports. Each year, hundreds of men, women, and children are injured when playing sports. To help prevent sports-related eye injuries, athletes should use protective athletic eyewear whether or not prescription eyewear is needed. One choice is a sports frame with prescription or non-prescription polycarbonate lenses. Baseball or softball players who are hit in or near the eye, or suffer a blow to the head, should seek immediate care at a hospital emergency room or from an eye care professional.

Children and Contact Lenses

The important thing for parents and their children who wear contact lenses to remember is that contacts are prescribed medical devices. If worn correctly and cared for properly, contact lenses are a terrific option for kids, especially for sports.

All About Vision resource link: Children's Vision