What is The Importance of Good Vision For Young Children?

Good vision is important for everyone, but children are at an age where they are absorbing a ton of information. This means they need to be able to see and process their schoolwork, but it also means they have less experience to recognize and respond to danger. Both of these are incredibly important reasons to take your child’s vision seriously. Additionally, poor vision in childhood may lead to lifelong learning problems and lowered self-confidence.

With that in mind, Premier Eye Care in Calgary has created an overview of how to determine and best handle vision impairment in young children.

Learning-related Problems

Because vision problems can take a number of forms, it cannot be diagnosed immediately. A common problem is when the eyes are unable to focus together, causing the writing they see directly before them to seem blurred. This is known as convergence insufficiency. The eyes will strain to correct what the child sees, but their vision will still be blurred.

Another issue is known as eye tracking, where the child does not read the words in the actual order they are written. Their eyes dart erratically around the page. Obviously, this causes difficulty reading and learning.

Lastly, accommodation disorder occurs when the child can read what’s written in front of their eyes, but needs to strain to do so. The words appear blurry, often requiring prescription reading glasses.

All of these problems are difficult on a child’s ability to learn, because the mind and eyes need to simultaneously work to absorb material from books and the teacher. Erratic focus on either will unsync this process.

Available Options

Many parents expect the school nurse to detect problems with their child’s vision, but this isn’t enough, as they only check for 20/20 vision. This measures up to 20 feet, and since classrooms are often at least twice this distance, it’s insufficient. Your child needs to visit an optometrist.

Vision therapy is one potential treatment. This improves your child’s function and performance with vision. Studies have demonstrated that with proper attention to visual deficiencies, a child’s grades, motivation, and self-esteem will be boosted.

Finding vision therapy in Calgary or vision therapy in Seton isn’t difficult, however. Premier Eye Care will make sure your child has the proper vision therapy needed to succeed. We have experience providing the best vision therapy to T3M 2J6. Make an appointment now, before problems develop.