PHOTO: Tennessee parents have one more item to add to that back-to-school checklist, getting the kids in for an eye exam. Photo credit: Randen Pederson/Flickr.
Tonya Reynoldson, president of the Tennessee Association of Optometric Physicians, says this is a great time of year to get students in for eye exams, especially the younger children who may not always speak up.
“Eye health is very important,” she stresses. “It’s the essential way that kids learn, is through visual.
“Eighty percent that they take in is usually visual and the other is 20 percent, pretty much auditory.”
Signs that a child may have eye or vision problems include headaches, frequent eye rubbing or blinking and the avoidance of reading and other close activities.
Reynoldson also explains that just like other health issues, early detection and treatment is key for vision or eye health problems such as amblyopia, more commonly known as lazy eye.
“Especially in the case of kids starting kindergarten,” she points out. “One of the most common diagnoses that we run into is a lazy eye.
“So that child doesn’t develop good depth perception, and if that’s not caught early, that could cause some issues down the road.”
The American Optometric Association suggests a child’s first eye exam at around six-months of age, with another at age three and then again around kindergarten or first grade.
From there, students should have their eyes checked every other year, or more frequently if specific problems or risk factors exist.
