A child can pass the 20/20 vision test and still have noteworthy vision complications which will hamper them in school, sports and/or social life.
With the school year on its way, now would be a great time to have your child’s vision checked. You don’t want months to pass by to only find out that your child has been unable to see the blackboard or read effectively and has the grades to prove it. Children should be examined by an eye doctor during infancy, preschool, and school years to detect potential vision defects. A pediatric visit to the eye doctor is, in part, about the acuity of distance and near vision.
It is so much more than that. Your child needs the ability to focus, track or fixate on objects, differentiate colors, discriminate forms and coordinate eye and hand movements.
Your annual vision check will look into the above, plus investigate:
BINOCULAR VISION
Are both eyes working as a team; smoothly, accurately, equally and simultaneously? If not, depth perception is affected as well as visual motor skills. This affects 12% of the population.
CONVERGENCE INSUFFICIENCY
Convergence Insufficiency is a common near vision problem which interferes with the child’s ability to see, read, learn, and work at close distances. An eye teaming problem in which the eyes have a strong tendency to drift outward or away from the target when reading or doing close work. When the eyes drift, the child might have double vision. The condition can manifest or worsen in the later school years as near work, homework, and reading demands significantly increase.
DYSLEXIA
Dyslexia is the selective impairment of reading skills despite normal intelligence, sensory acuity, and instruction. Normal vision and normal hearing are essential parts of normal sensory acuity, so it is critical to rule out any problems with vision or hearing when considering the diagnosis and/or treatment of dyslexia. Visual abnormalities were reported to be found in more than 75% of the reading-disabled children tested.
STRABISMUS OR CROSSED EYES
Approximately 4% of children in the U.S. are affected by “crossed eye,” “wall eye,” “wandering eye,” strabismus, esotropia, exotropia, or hyperphoria. It is a visual defect in which the two eyes point in different directions. One eye may turn either in, out, up, or down while the other eye aims straight ahead. Due to this condition, both eyes do not always aim simultaneously at the same object. This results in a partial or total loss of stereo vision and binocular depth perception. The eye turns may be visible at all times or may come and go. In some cases, the eye misalignments are not obvious to the untrained observer.
I invite you to visit my office for an exam to discuss eye care health for you and your family. We take most medical insurances.
Dr. Steven Linker
Monmouth Vision Associates
50 Rt. 9 North, Suite 206, Morganville
732-617-1717 | www.monmouthvision.com