Did you know that 80% of everything a child learns, understands, and remembers is acquired through his or her visual system? Vision is very important in the learning process. What’s worse is that one in four children have undiagnosed vision problems that affect their learning. Sometimes the problem is misdiagnosed as ADD (attention deficit disorder), ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or dyslexia.
It is important that children receive comprehensive visual exams starting as early in life as possible. In Nebraska, a child entering kindergarten is required to have a visual exam at the provider of their choice prior to starting school. Vision screenings at school are not sufficient as a basis for diagnosing vision problems. A comprehensive exam may find a visual problem missed during screenings, and your eye doctor can recommend treatment. Your child may suffer from a visual problem if they exhibit any of the following characteristics:
- Struggles with reading
- Grows tired or frustrated with reading
- Can’t sit still or stay a a task for any length of time
- Reverses, word, numbers, or letters
- Has difficulty remembering the spelling of words
- Frequently loses their place, skips words, or skips lines of text while reading
