When School Starts, You Want the Best Health for Your Children’s Eyes
The school year is upon us again, and it’s absolutely critical that you include an eye exam for your kids among all of your other academic preparations. Parents run around making sure their children have their proper immunizations and supplies for school, but often neglect eye care. This year, you can change all that.
While all of your school preparations are important, neglecting your child’s eyes can have critical consequences for education. If your child cannot read the board, computer screen or textbooks, for example, they may become discouraged about learning and fall behind. Read on to learn more about the importance of regular eye exams for your kids, and why the start of the school year is an excellent time to cross this item off your family to-do list.
School Screenings Are Partially Effective at Detecting Issues With Vision
According to the American Optometric Association, nearly 90 percent of those surveyed think that school vision screenings and the like are effective at detecting vision problems. However, only a complete eye exam by a licensed optometric professional can fully diagnose potential eye problems that may be occurring in your children.
Vision problems can not only lead to poor results in school, but they can also sometimes lead to behavioral and attentional issues, as well. After all, you do not want your child to be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and prescribed medication when all they really need is a good pair of glasses.
When to Schedule Your Kids’ Eye Exams
Since it’s important for a growing child to get at least one annual eye exam, it’s a great idea to schedule regular exams a couple of weeks before school starts. This way, you will always remember when it’s time for a new eye exam, and your child will be well prepared to enter the school year with corrected vision if that should prove necessary.
Some people may put off pediatric eye exams due to cost. However, for most people, pediatric eye exams will fall under your regular health insurance coverage. Unfortunately, many people do not realize this.
One study showed that over half of the population does not realize that comprehensive eye exams are covered as essential benefits under the Affordable Care Act, and that includes glasses for children.
Caring for Children’s Eyes
Annual pediatric eye exams are a very important way to take care of your child’s eye health, however, there are more ways to help out. First, always be vigilant of your child with respect to their eyes. If your child is holding books very close to their face to read, squinting frequently, or complaining of headaches, these all may be signs of vision problems that you should have an eye doctor attend to.
Another important step to take is to make sure your children don’t strain their eyes with digital devices. This can be extremely difficult in the modern age when everyone, especially young people, always seem to have their eyes affixed to a cell phone, tablet, or laptop. However, computer eyestrain can be a big problem, causing blurred vision, headaches, irritated eyes and more. Have our children follow the 20-20-20 rule by looking at something 20 feet away from the screen for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.
It’s also important to make sure that your children wear proper eye protection when engaging activities that could put their eyes in danger. For example, protective goggles or impact resistant sunglasses for sporting activities.
If you live in the Portland Area, Beaumont Vision can provide a complete eye exam for your child by highly trained professionals in a relaxed, comfortable environment. To schedule your appointment, call us at 503-331-3937 now.