When Should I Take my Child to the Optometrist?
Is your child struggling in school? Does she hate reading? Does he complain that he doesn’t know the assignments and can’t follow along in class?
Your child’s school struggles could be related to one thing: vision issues.
Did you know that almost 80% of what a school-aged child learns happens using their eyes? Reading, writing, using the computer and even learning through observation all require good vision. If your child isn’t seeing well, this impacts the majority of their learning and can cause a great deal of stress during a critical stage of development.
How do you know when your child’s vision may be to blame for their issues at school? That’s the tricky part. You may not know unless you have your child’s eyes examined.
School vision tests will screen for some common vision issues, but won’t alert you if your child has astigmatism, is farsighted or is showing signs of strabismus (eyes that appear “cross-eyed”).
Some signs of vision problems in children are:
- Holding reading materials too close
- Sitting too close to the computer or television screen
- Squinting or straining
- Confusing letters
- Frequent headaches
- Inability to sit still while trying to focus and read
If your child shows any of these symptoms, you should have their eyes examined right away to make sure they have a comprehensive visual screening.
It’s possible your child won’t show any of these symptoms, but still needs vision help.
Deciding when to take your child to the optometrist is more difficult than deciding when to take them to the pediatrician. If they wake up with a high fever and cough, you know it’s time to see a doctor, but many vision issues aren’t that obvious. In most cases, your child won’t know that they aren’t seeing well, so they can’t identify vision as the source of their learning problems.
The American Optometric Association recommends that a licensed doctor of optometry see a child at least three times before their sixth birthday. After that, most children should be seen annually until age eighteen, unless they are under more frequent care to manage vision issues such as crossed or lazy eyes.
Don’t miss the opportunity to make sure your child has the best chance of school success before summer vacation is here! Call America’s Best and schedule a comprehensive vision exam for your child today.
