OAOP reminds parents about the importance of eye exams before going back to school

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians (OAOP) wants to remind parents that having good vision is vital to children's health and success, especially during classroom activities.

Without healthy vision, students face the challenges of reading books to viewing a whiteboard or even a computer screen. Unhealthy vision can also effect students' mental, physical, social and emotional well-being.

OAOP says that comprehensive eye exams are important "to-dos" as children prepare to go back to school soon and are often pushed aside. Children, without a comprehensive eye exam, can deal with undetected vision problems or even be misdiagnosed for a learning disorder.

“Millions of school children in America have vision conditions that can negatively affect learning,” said OAOP President Jeff Edwards, OD. “Many parents rely on vision screenings in school to check for eye problems, but that isn’t enough. Comprehensive eye exams are necessary to detect problems that a simple screening can miss, such as eye coordination, moderate amounts of farsightedness and astigmatism.”

According to the American Optometric Association (AOA) vision screenings only diagnose a small portion of children's vision problems whereas a comprehensive eye exam will check a child's visual acuity, how well the eyes work together, focus, visual alignment, eye tracking skills, color vision and overall health of the eyes.

“Early detection and treatment provide the very best opportunity to treat and correct vision problems to help children see clearly,” said Dr. Edwards. “The longer a vision problem goes undiagnosed and untreated, the more a child's brain has to overcompensate to live with the vision problem, instead of developing and learning normally.”

AOA recommends the following schedule for children's eye exams:

• Infants should receive a comprehensive baseline eye exam between the ages of 6 and 12 months, immediately after the critical period when the eye undergoes rapid and profound changes and is therefore most vulnerable to interference with normal development;
• Preschoolers should receive at least one in-person, comprehensive eye exam between the ages of 3 and 5 to prevent or diagnose any condition that may have long-term effects;
• School-aged children (6 to 18 years) should receive a comprehensive exam prior to entering the first grade and annually thereafter.

Dr. Edwards, who serves as OAOP President and owns Vision Source of Hugo, says he reminds parents to make comprehensive eye exams a part of their checklist when preparing their children to go back to school.