| At the age five or six most children begin kindergarden or grade school. Good vision will play a very important role in the ability of a child to get a good education. When vision is not functioning properly, learning and participation in recreational activities will suffer. Good vision requires many visual skills working together to enable a child to see clearly and properly understand and interpret the visual input. At this age, a child should begin to use their eyes and hands together with increasing precision.
Their are many visual skills that are neccessary for school including:
- Clear near vision for reading & comfortably viewing close objects.
- Clear distance vision to see comfortably beyond arms reach.
- Binocular vision or the ability to use both eye together.
- Eye movement skills in order to accurately aim the eyes, change
viewing from one object to another, & smoothly follow moving objects.
- Focusing ability to keep both eyes clearly focused at various
distances including changing looking from one distance to another.
- Peripheral vision to be aware of objects located out of direct view.
- Eye-hand coordination to accurately use the eyes and hand together.
- Eye-body coordination to visually guide body movements.
Parents of school-age children should be alert for signs of abnormal visual development or coordination problems. It is important to recognize signs and symptoms such as:
- Frequent inward, outward, upward, or downward eye turning.
- Excessive tearing of the eyes.
- Excessive blinking.
- Obvious favoring of one eye.
- Squinting or frequent closing of one eye.
- Covering of one eye with hands when looking at objects.
- Drifting of one eye when looking at objects.
- Swollen or crusted eyelids.
- Unusual redness of the eyes or eyelids.
- Bumps, sores, or styes on or around the eyelids.
- Unusual position of the eyelids or drooping eyelids.
- Excessive rubbing or touching of the eyes.
- Avoidance of bright lights.
- Frequent complaints of eye strain.
- Turning or tilting of the head when looking at objects.
- Tendency to bump into objects on one side.
- Frequent headaches, fatigue, nausea, or dizziness.
- Below expected eye-hand coordination.
- Losing place while reading.
- Holding reading materials unusually close.
- Making frequent reversals when reading or writing.
- Using fingers to maintain position while reading.
- Omitting or confusing easy words when reading.
- Performing below potential in any activities.
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If any of the symptoms above are recognized, it is important to seek care from a doctor of optometry to examine and treat any conditions that may be present. Symptoms of visual problems are not always apparent and vision can change without your child realizing it. Threfore, it is important for a child to have a comprehensive eye examination at least every two years or as recommended by your optometrist.
Several things that can be done at home to help your child maintain good vision and continue to develop their visual motor and learning skills include:
- Provide safe visually guided motor activities such as sports,
climbing, walking on a balance beam, & playground activities.
- Provide building and snap together toys of all shapes and sizes.
- Provide detailed eye-hand coordination activities such as
connect-the-dot games, puzzles, and mazes.
- Provide activities such as modeling clay, stringing beads, finger
painting, coloring, sticker books, and pegboards.
- Provide adequate reading and writing activities.
- Encourage interaction with other children.
- Make sure television is viewed from an appropriate distance
(6-8 feet or approximately 5 times the width of the screen)
in a position free of glare and reflections.
- Have the child take breaks during long periods of close concentration,
including playing video games or using a computer.
- Teach proper use or avoidance of dangerous or sharp objects.
- Provide safe and comfortable bathroom products for the child.
- Use comfortable lighting levels throughout the home.
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