Did you know that 80% of everything a child learns, understands, and remembers is acquired through his or her visual system? Vision is very important in the learning process. What's worse is that one in four children have undiagnosed vision problems that affect their learning. Sometimes the problem is misdiagnosed as ADD (attention deficit disorder), ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), or dyslexia.
It is important that children receive comprehensive visual exams starting as early in life as possible. Vision screenings at school are not sufficient as a basis for diagnosing vision problems. A comprehensive exam may find a visual problem missed during screenings, and your eye doctor can recommend treatment.
Your child may suffer from a visual problem if they exhibit any of the following characteristics:
- struggles with reading
- grows tired or frustrated with reading
- can't sit still or stay at a task for any length of time
- reverses words, numbers, or letters
- has difficulty remembering the spelling of words
- frequently loses their place, skips words, or skips lines of text while reading
- has poor reading comprehension
- has shown no improvement from medication or tutoring
- Children suffering from uncorrected vision problems may face many barriers in life - socially, academically, and athletically. Make sure your child's vision is developing well.
