Back to School Time…. Can Your Kids Use Their Eyes Well To Learn?
It’s that time again. Summer is over and time for the routines to start again. “Get your homework done, get your clothes laid out for tomorrow, do you have lunch money?, get to bed.” Ah, the joys of parenthood.
We do those things because we love our kids though and we want the best for them. We teach them so one day they can be on their own. To be able to learn and succeed in life.
Have you ever stopped to think that you may be neglecting one of the most important aspects of learning for your kids? Their vision. Vision consists of more than just seeing 20/20 on an eye chart or having a school nurse check them at school or at the doctor’s office. Just because they appear to be able to “see things” doesn’t mean their vision functions properly.
Not only does an eyeball have to focus light from far away onto the back of the eyeball (the retina) clearly, it has to use eye muscles for near vision (accommodate), and do this in co-ordination with another eyeball that are both connected with 6 extra-ocular muscles working in tandem. It then has to send these light signals from the eye to the brain where our brain’s perception interprets what we see. There is a lot going on there. Anything that disrupts any of those systems can cause the vision system to be affected and make it harder to see and likewise learn.
Did you know 80% of learning comes from what we see? (AOA) Signs that may indicate a child has vision problem include:
- Frequent eye rubbing or blinking
- Short attention span
- Avoiding reading and other close activities
- Frequent headaches
- Covering one eye
- Tilting the head to one side
- Holding reading materials close to the face
- An eye turning in or out
- Seeing double
- Losing place when reading
- Difficulty remembering what he or she read
It makes sense that if a child is uncomfortable doing schoolwork or reading because it makes his eyes tired or the letters move around the page or just doesn’t make sense due to a perception problem are not going to do well in school. I don’t want to do hard work naturally either if I don’t have to!
Many children are mislabeled as ADHD or have poor attention because of this.
Please have your children examined by a reputable eye doctor, not at a quickie, Bigmart store or at the mall, to ensure their complete vision system is working well. They must be able to ensure you if your child is seeing 20/20, that they are not farsighted at all. Also that their focusing is good, their eye coordination is good and eye health is normal at a minimum. Too many kids are labeled dyslexic as well because of simple, undiagnosed eye problems and then they have that stigma placed on them for no reason as well as delaying their development unnecessarily.
If you haven’t had your children’s eyes examined this year, why wait any longer? Don’t let them get behind.
Courtesy of Dumas Vision Source, PLLC and Dr Tory W. Moore, Optometric Glaucoma Specialist. Serving the Dumas, Texas, Moore County and upper Texas Panhandle area for 23 years. Call (806) 935-2020 for appointment or visit our optical gallery without an appointment. Connect on Twitter @eyedocdumas and like our Facebook business page: Dumas Vision Source You also can visit our website www.visionsource-dumas.com for more information. Tory Moore, OD – “A Hometown Eye Doctor You Know and Can Trust!”