Importance of Routine Pediatric Eye Exams

Routine eye exams aren’t just for adults. Your newborn will be given an eye check in the first few days after they are born, but beyond this, it is your responsibility to make sure that your child’s eyes are healthy, and their vision is developing normally. Unfortunately, many parents overlook scheduling appointments for their children until they develop a problem with their vision, and since kids may not necessarily realize that their vision is impaired, this means that your child has compromised vision for some time until it is detected.

Let’s take a look at why routine pediatric eye exams are so important, and how often you should be making sure that your child’s eyes are being checked.

 

The Importance of Routine Pediatric Eye Exams

Your child is reliant on you for many different things, including ensuring that their eyes are healthy and that they can see clearly. When your child is particularly young, it is unlikely that they would realize that their eyesight isn’t as clear as it could be, since what they see is ‘normal’ to them. Often it isn’t until they go to school and struggle with accessing their learning that they, their teachers and you as a parent may begin to recognize that there could be an issue with their vision. This is because children need certain visual skills in order to achieve optimal learning. These include:

• Excellent visual acuity at all distances

• Accurate and comfortable eye teaming skills

• The ability to focus comfortably

• Proper eye movements

If a vision problem is undetected, it can slow or even halt your child’s progress at school. Unfortunately, it isn’t uncommon for vision problems to be incorrectly diagnosed as a learning difficulty. This is because children who struggle to see and access their learning correctly can become distracted, unfocused and less engaged in their learning. They may also jumble up letters or misunderstand them because they cannot see clearly, and this can lead to a misdiagnosis of dyslexia. When your child attends routine pediatric eye exams, you can be sure that they have the visual skills necessary to be able to access their learning and achieve their full academic potential.  

Proper vision is also necessary for keeping your child safe and supporting their day to day activities. Many of us take our eyesight for granted but being unable to see a clearly improper peripheral vision and other ocular tissues can be dangerous if you aren’t prepared. Your child needs to be able to tell the difference between colors (for things such as traffic lights or other systems that are color-coded), anticipate the speed of moving traffic and read signs – and these are just some of the examples which show just how significantly we rely on our eyesight.

 

How Often Should my Child Have Their Eyes Examined?

Experts recommend that children have their first proper eye exam just before they start kindergarten, and then at least once every two years following this. If your child is found to need glasses or contact lenses to correct their vision, the frequency of these visits may be increased in line with their prescription requirements.

If your child hasn’t yet had a pediatric eye exam, or if you have any concerns about their vision, please contact Reed Optical in Claremont, Sunapee NH today to schedule an appointment.