Vision is closely linked to the learning process and children who have trouble seeing will often have trouble with their schoolwork.  More than 80% of information children receive about the world comes through their eyes, and visual problems can impact on a child’s educational, physical and social development. For children eye examinations can play an important role in development as often children will not complain of a vision problem as they may not know what normal vision looks like.

Common vision problems in children

The most common problems with children’s vision are those affecting their ability to see clearly and sharply.

• Myopia – shortsightedness- causes difficulty seeing distant objects clearly.
• Hyperopia –longsightedness- causes difficulties when focusing at near.
• Astigmatism causes objects to appear distorted and not sharply in focus.

Once recognized these are usually easy to correct.

Other common problems are those affecting visual performance, not paying attention in class, slow to learn to read, being withdrawn, and poor sporting ability may be signs that a child is experiencing visual problems.

• Poor eye coordination – if the eyes don’t work together the child will subconsciously have to work harder to force them to act as one. In severe cases double vision occurs and the brain eventually shuts off the message it receives from one eye, if this happens the child will develop amblyopia –a lazy eye.

• Turned eye- both  eyes need to look at the same object to achieve normal vision, when they point in different directions the brain takes less notice of the message it receives from one eye, vision therefore does not develop properly in the eye which is not being used as much. Eye exercises or glasses will usually correct the problem, only in extreme cases surgery may be necessary.

• Eye movement defects- children need to have efficient eye movements to see normally, if for example such movements are slow or unsteady, children will find reading more difficult, they will miss words or lose their place on the page.

• Poor hand eye coordination- hand eye coordination is necessary for easy handling of objects within arms reach. Crooked writing, poor spacing between letters and words, and difficulty staying on the lines may indicate that a child’s hands and eyes are not working together.

• Difficulties with focusing control – when it is difficult to focus objects may appear blurry and considerable effort is exerted to keep them in focus, or for some it may be difficult to move focus quickly from distance to near making copying from the black board difficult.

There are many clues to children’s vision problems, blinking, rubbing the eyes, holding a book very close and closing one eye to read are just some of these clues. Ideally all children should be examined before they are 3 years old, and again before starting school. During the school years vision may rapidly change, we will advise you how often your child’s eyes should be examined, and any concerns you may have can be discussed with us.

Vision Development in Babies

Babies are born with an undeveloped visual system this will develop rapidly in the first few years of life. At birth the eyes will be checked for signs of major problems, this is important as the earlier a problem is detected, the better the chance of effective treatment.

• At birth babies can see patterns of light and dark, during the first 4 months a baby will begin to follow slow moving objects and be able to recognise facial expressions, a mobile will provide visual stimulation for focus and eye movement development, a variety of safe objects within baby’s focus distance will encourage hand eye coordination as baby reaches to touch.
•  4 – 6 - months control of eye movement develops further as the baby learns to turn from side to side. Occasionally one eye may be turned in towards the nose or to the outside, this may happen first with one eye then the other, this is normal in the first six months and is part of the development of binocularity, which is the use of two eyes together,
•  6 – 8 - months both eyes are focusing equally, if the eyes are crossed, they are not working together and prompt examination is required, this is not a problem a child will outgrow.
•  8 – 12- months babies are more mobile, crawling helps to develop hand eye coordination, and as depth perception is still developing tumbles and falls are common.
•  1 – 2 - years coordination of eyes and hands is well developed encouraging play with building blocks and puzzles will improve precision in movement and help small muscle development, climbing, rocking horses and bike riding all increase the coordination of hands, eyes and feet.
• 2 – 3 years – useful activities are reading and telling stories to improve your child’s ability to understand visual information and to prepare for learning to read, and drawing painting will further develop accurate hand movements.
• By 3 years a thorough optometric examination will reveal any problems and will check that your child is acquiring the many visual skills necessary for complete development.

Watching you child develop is one of the joys of parenthood, our professional skills linked with your own active participation will ensure that your child realises his or her full visual potential.

Sunglasses And Children

Children are at particular risk to UV damage as they spend more time outdoors than adults, and their eyes are more sensitive too. Since UV damage is cumulative, you should begin protecting children’s eyes as soon as possible.